ROLAND BROTHERS

ROLAND KEEPING IT

By Patrick Dunning

Rex Lumber has long had the advantage of having the Roland brothers in the filing room.

GRACEVILLE, Fla. A s the saying goes, good sawmills don’t exist without having good saws. For Rex Lumber’s home division in Graceville, Fla., they believe good saws begin with veteran saw filers Tommy Roland, 78, and Pete Roland, 76.

The brothers were born in Hartford, Ala. in the early 1940s with a mechanical inclination in their DNA. Tie that together with a work ethic you can’t buy and the result is two of the South’s best sawmill men. Of course, they’d never personally hold themselves in such high regard. But to a surrounding cast who can tell story after story of a time either brother influenced them in a positive way, the resounding voice would sound something along the lines of, “You won’t leave the same after you’ve met them.”

Head filer is just one of the many titles the Rolands have held since each joined Rex Lumber in 1976, continuing to work under owner Finley McRae. Their careers began after a cousin of Tommy and Pete’s working at the Grace ville mill caught wind of a position opening. McRae was having problems with his round saws and needed two filers. McRae was tipped off by their cousin that the two had a gift working with their hands. “Mc Rae said he was interested in hiring if we were interested in working for him,” Pete says.

Tommy says McRae has always been aggressive in his business approach. “He knows how to make money and stays on the cutting edge of technology.” That includes ensuring employees have the training they need to perform a job well. He told the brothers he was bringing in the man who developed the Foley saw grinder the following week to show them the right way to file saws. “Finley told me, ‘I want you to go in there and learn all the wrong ways to file saws, because that’s what they’re doing,’” Pete says. “And he was right. There were a lot of differences in the way he showed us to do it.” ROUND SAW U.

During the crash-course of learning to level blank plates and manually place tips, McRae had another filer sent from a saw manufacturing company to educate them on how to straighten a dished saw and make it run. It wasn’t long before they graduated from “Round Saw University.” Between 1978 and ’79, Rex Lumber switched to band saws. Not far behind was John Stanton, a 78-year-old band saw guru, to assist the Rolands. He’d come twice a week for half a day, rotating the brothers bi-weekly for a month of hands-on training. “My first day with Mr. Stanton, he told me he was going to a work a section and to watch,” Tommy recalls. “When he got through with that portion of the band saw he asked if I saw what he did. I said yes sir. So, he laid his tools down and told me to do the next one.” Stanton inspected Tommy’s first attempt and approved.

Pete remembers being appreciative of Stanton for keeping instruction simple to grasp. “He always gave us something to build on and that’s all we needed,” he says. “We had that mechanical mind, so it was easy to pick up what he was saying once he explained what was happening.”

Before coming into the fold with Rex Lumber, Tommy and Pete spent their childhood in Columbus, Ga. Their grandfather on their mother’s side worked fulltime in a textile mill and did carpentry as well. That’s where the two were taught their first lessons in the virtue of an honest

Pete, left, and brother Tommy Roland are well respected among their peers at Rex Lumber’s home base in Graceville, Fla.

Saw filing techniques have come a long way from when the brothers first started.

day’s work. When the family relocated back to southeast Alabama, their work ethic was obvious on a farm where they regularly outhustled grown men as teen - agers. “Our parents instilled in us to do the best you can at whatever you do,” Tommy says. “We always tried to outdo older people and most of the time, we did.”

Tommy graduated from Rehobeth High School before receiving his A&P license.

He worked as an aviation maintenance technician on Fort Rucker for 10 years until the Vietnam War wound down and led to layoffs. Meanwhile, Pete was working as a mechanic at a Ford dealership in Graceville. “When we came on board, we were about the same age as Finley so we were able to talk with him,” Tommy says. A lot of open communication resulted from telling the naked truth and not what

Currently serving as quality control supervisor, Tommy inspects the band saw teeth with a handheld mirror.

someone wanted to hear. “He always listens and if it makes sense he’ll act on it. He’d rather you tell the truth and not add or take away.” Tommy remembers when he first started there was a lot of mystery behind saw filing. “When you walked into a filing room, the filer would lay his tools down. He wouldn’t let you watch him.”

While it can be secretive, Tommy confesses it’s all mechanical. Their technique is simply a steadfast hand and a bit of physics.

FILING HEADWAY

The Rolands witnessed major changes to the filing room since they started working in the ’70s. The process was done with a torch; manually grinding one side then turning it over and grinding the other. “You used to have to put the saw on a leveling block with a stretching roll and there was a lever you pulled to create more or less pressure,” Tommy says. He broke down his method for new filers into three steps: level, tension, back. “Level, that means flatten the saw; tension, you have to pre-stretch the saw; and back, the back of a saw has to be longer than the front.”

With the old benches, saws were leveled with a straight-edge and tension was measured with a curved tension gauge. Whatever was done to the front affected the back. Now, methods to file saws are much more automated. New auto-benches level automatically. The machine is me

chanical and controlled by proximity switches and dial indicators. “You set the parameters you want, it calibrates, then you can move tension from the front to the back,” Tommy says. Each saw is replicated according to parameters required for smooth cutting.

They also lived through the advent of band saws with thinner kerfs. The teeth on saws were now wider than the band to maximize lumber out of a log. Tommy’s current role as quality control supervisor oversees methods to ensure lumber is sawn as close to the sawing solution or “theory” as possible. “We used to just throw a tape on it, but not anymore,” Tommy says. Now they use L-Size digital calipers to measure lumber constantly and a micrometer to make sure the teeth are the right width.

Flattening his hand in front of his face, Tommy describes “theory” as the highest bar achievable in saw filing. “Practicality is down here. So somewhere between the two we have to find a happy medium.”

One thing the brothers don’t do is hold back information they’ve acquired through the years. They feel obligated to share their methods to help continue the company’s success. Pete says he teaches young filers the same way they were taught: giving them the basics and building on that.

“This company is really good about putting people with certain abilities in positions to be successful,” Tommy says. “Finley always made sure we had the training we needed. It’s only right to give back.”

SWITCHING GEARS

Tommy and Pete knew of McRae growing up. He’s within a year of their respective ages, and living less than an hour apart, the brothers knew him enough to know he drove a 1958 Chevy

Tommy, left, and younger brother Pete in their natural habitat

Impala. “It was a hot rod,” Tommy says. “That was the first Chevrolet engine with more than 300 horsepower stock, and he used every single one of them.” Ironically, the brothers had a knack for cars that go fast, too.

Back in 1972, Tommy and some friends built a “junk-yard” racecar and competed with professional driver Donnie Allison. Tommy knew a suspension guy and told him he’d furnish the power if they provided the car. Another guy who had connections to Allison’s engine builder supplied the engine. Pete says Tommy raced for several years. He attentively studied suspension and figured how to make their car stick to the track better. It was supposed to be Tommy behind the wheel against Allison. But he couldn’t drive after suffering a broken arm in a car accident on the way home from Fort Rucker. Instead, they went with a mutual friend involved in the project to drive.

“We’d get some big names to come down to the track,” Tommy says. “Donnie came down and our car beat him. That was our claim to fame, Joel outran him.” Pete remembers being 11 and 12 years old alongside his brother, putting a clutch in a covered drive-shaft. “You had to loosen the back end and slide the

Rex Lumber sawmills are known for their saw care expertise.

cover to be able to access the drive shaft. Here we are two kids,” Pete smiles.

One of Pete’s favorite memories was a family-owned 1957 John Deere 420 tractor built for picking cotton. After taking the tractor apart, he went to the John Deere dealership for parts and was confronted by the mechanic. “The mechanic asked me who taught me to separate the tractor,” Pete says. “I told him nobody. He told me there’s no way I did that myself.” Tickled to death, Pete told him to believe whatever he wanted. Tommy and Pete’s hobbies include souping up older model cars and trucks. Tommy’s 1973 Ford Mustang Mach 1 is a good example of enhanced performance. When he bought it, it had a 351 Cleveland motor under the hood. He replaced that with a 460 cubic in. engine. In addition to the engine swap, Tommy bored out the cylinders, added a camshaft, acquired aftermarket heads and currently is installing a heavy-duty C6 transmission. At the moment, Tommy says it’s disassembled. “My grandson is going to trade

school at Wallace Community College for welding and needed a project so I sent him to the store to buy materials for an engine stand,” Tommy says. “He did all the welding and did a really good job. We got the engine together and did a test run, it was super smooth.”

FAMILY LIFE

The Rolands’ mother, Bonnie Mirl Smith, was married three times. Her first, she had a daughter. Her second marriage was to Tommy and Pete’s father. When

Pete was three their father was killed in an automobile accident. She married once more, and two more boys came along. “There’s three sets of children but we all grew up together. We don’t think of them any less than blood,” Tommy says.

There are three remaining siblings, and Tommy admits age takes a toll on your mind and body. Watching their youngest brother die at 65 and losing their sister at 77 puts into perspective how delicate life is. “Attending funerals more frequently makes you think about how blessed you are to be alive,” Tommy says.

Pete just celebrated his 60th anniversary and has two children, a son and daughter. His son works for a concrete company specializing in decorative coating and his daughter works for a rental outfit.

Tommy has been married 57 years and has three daughters and a son. One is a department manager at Lowes, the other is a city clerk in Hartford. His youngest daughter graduated from Auburn University in 1993 with a pharmacy degree and works at a pharmacy. His son works for Globe Motors in Dothan specializing in small-engine builds on ATVs, power steering equipment and motors for the tops of Tomahawk missiles.

Both brothers agree that women can change like the weather. “You can choose to be right or be happy. We chose to be happy,” they say laughing.

Living with diabetes, Pete has recently had some pulmonary complications that the doctors say are beginning to improve. Tommy has diabetes as well and confirms that his stamina isn’t what it used to be. Pete believes one thing physical ailments do is keep your mind on God. “Once you run to the end of what doctors say, there’s nobody else to go to. You spend a lot of time praying.”

Their mother instilled the importance of church at a young age. Their stepfather was a musician and taught all the boys how to play various string instruments which kept them tied to the worship team. To this day, Pete plays guitar every Sunday at Pleasant Grove Meth - odist Church just across the Alabama state line.

Tommy strums the guitar and also plays the mandolin, harmonica, bass and banjo. He enjoys playing with his son, who’s an accomplished banjo.

Tommy and Pete have lived a full life; from riding horses and motorcycles, driving racecars and even Tommy receiving his pilot’s license. Still, they’ve never wandered too far from the filing room. When they both came to Graceville the goal was to do the best job possible. “Finley always made sure we had the help we needed for training. This company has been really good to both of us,” Tommy says. They long to be remembered for inspiring those around them to be better people. Everyone sees them as mechanics, but the two view their job as part of their ministry.

“To me, it’s God first, family second, church third and your job fourth,” Tom my says. “Sawing with these guys is half of it, but your life is your ministry. Wher ever you’re at, on vacation, at work, or just in public, that’s your ministry.” TP