Bjurner was born on 10 January 1882 in Hedvig Eleonora Parish, Stockholm, Sweden,[1] the son of Gustav Adolf Carlsson and his wife Ellen Hallström.

[2] Bjurner enrolled as a cadet at Royal Swedish Naval Academy in 1895 and was appointed at the age of 19 years to second lieutenant (underlöjtnant) in the navy in 1901.

Bjurner was then promoted to commander and appointed head of the Royal Swedish Naval Materiel Administration's Artillery Department in 1923.

The Royal Swedish Naval Materiel Administration thus ordered a test cannon, the mechanism of which would be based on the Navy's well-proven semi-automatic block mechanism, and after extensive experiments, Bofors' gun designers succeeded in solving the ammunition loading and rammer problems.

[3][2] Bjurner was promoted to captain in 1931, was head of Karlskrona Naval Yard from 1931 to 1936, and commanded the Winter Squadron (Vintereskadern) from 1933 to 1934.

[6] Furthermore, Bjurner was chairman of the Naval Pension Fund (Flottans pensionskassa) from 1936 to 1938, the Swedish Sailing School Association (Stiftelsen Svenska seglarskolan) in 1944 and member of the board of the Maritime Museum from 1939 to 1943.

[4] Bjurner also assisted General Olof Thörnell in compiling a history of Sweden's defense preparedness before and during World War II.