Method of making mechanical pulp

A method for producing a mechanical pulp product from lignocellulose-containing material comprising pretreating said lignocellulose-containing material in the presence of impregnation chemicals so as to produce a pretreated lignocellulose-containing material, refining said

• pretreated lignocellulose-containing material in a first refining step employing a pair of counter-rotating refining discs under pressure so as to produce a partially refined lignocellulose-containing material having a freeness value measured by CSF of between about 150 and 300 so as to maximize the light-scattering coefficient of said lignocellulosecontaining material, bleaching said partially refined lignocellulose-containing material in the presence of bleaching chemicals at a pulp concentration of between about 30 and 45 percent so as to produce a bleached lignocellulose-containing material having an ISO-brightness above about 70, and refining said bleached lignocellulose-containing material in a second refining step utilizing a pair of refining discs in which one of said pair of refining discs is stationary and the other of said pair of refining discs is rotating under pressure so as to produce a refined lignocellulose-containing material having a freeness value measured by CSF of between about 50 and 150 so as to minimize the shives content of said refined lignocellulose-containing material.