I found myself on the Homecrest Patio Furniture Facebook page a few weeks ago.....and wrote about my experience when I started doing biz with them back in the day. Also where my hand loading interests and long-range shooting got into full swing. Interesting for me.......
I really miss these times....and this guy "Mac" and I were pretty good friends and he and I helped each other both in business and in our love for long range shooting in those times.
RIP my friend Mac.
Homecrest Fan Group
Tom Peterson
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September 24 at 8:25 AM
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Going back some years here....to the 1980's. In those times I sold allot of custom Aluminum extrusion profiles to Homecrest for their patio furniture. They were just changing from steel to aluminum frame material and had a few issues with the transition. Also, were coming off a bad experience with buying from Asian sources and overalll poor quality issues. I feel good about solutions I provided in those times. The purchasing agent Bob MacIntire and I became pretty good freinds as a result of solving some of the problems they faced. One of my most proud accomplishments for them was to figure a way to form that aluminum base that made the swivel in their flagship chairs. They had the means to do so in steel....but not in aluminum....until I showed them how. That became an big moment for both Bob and I .....and we did allot of good business together over the years. In those days....vendors (like myself) and customers could spend allot of time together in many various ways (fishing trips, golf excursions and sporting events, etc). Bob and I liked long range shooting.....and we spent many days together shooting prairie dogs in South Dakota. We also discussed and found a way to solve the huge swivel bearing problem with aluminum that Homecrest was having. Win / Win / Fun. I miss those days, and the time spent with my friend and customer Bob. Have not seen or spoken to him in some time. He was an icon for Homecrest.....IMO...and was a great friend. I expect by now....I should offer a RIP Bob....but I certainly hope he is still with us? A good and faithful servant of the company he worked for.
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Homecrest Outdoor Living
Thank you so much for sharing this, Tom. Bob was a pivotal member of our purchasing department, and it’s so wonderful to hear your fond memories of working with him and Homecrest. He did pass away several years ago, and we truly appreciate your thoughtful and kind words. We hope you’re doing well and wish you all the best!
3w
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Tom Peterson
Interesting times for me when Bob and I began a friendship through business and personal interests. As a hobby for something to do when traveling, I started reading all I could on old firearms and hunting and became interested in long-range varmint and target shooting. Bob was an accomplished rifleman and reloader.....and he somewhat mentored me on reloading and long range shooting techniques. From our days together I really got into reloading as a hobby. I had rather meager guns for this endeavor....but over time developed my reloading skills where my hand-loaded ammo could out-compete with Bob's custom rifles and loads. I had learned a trick to hand loading was to seat the bullets out long.....to where they barely engaged the rilfing.....which is today a known accuacy trick. I went on to develop a new business and some tools for this purpose and have several patents that make this practice now easy to accomplish. Today these tools are widely used and are the most recognized means to achieve this accuracy improvement......as well as several other shooting related products. But....it all began with Bob sharing his methods with me and our long discussions of such things while out in western South Dakota prairies.....as well as patio furniture and metal shapes, etc. Strange where a hobby and a thirst for better things can lead. For me, it was a life changing event.
3w
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Tom Peterson
I’m going to stop by your showroom next week to sit on some of the air es, seating. I’ve not seen it before and I am consiering buying some. Also bought one of your solid surface tables that should deliver soon. Nice Changes! Sorry to hear about Mac. A great guy and a square shooter. RIP Bob.
3w
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Tom Peterson
