HOME

Rapid Creek Cutters History

Rapid Creek Cutters gets it's name from being located on Rapid Creek Road in Inkom, Idaho.  Inkom is about 8 miles south of Pocatello on I-15.  In the Fall of 2001, I, Pat Burrington, was working at a Phosphorus Plant called FMC.  It suddenly closed after 50 years in business and I was about to be jobless.  I had been a welder in the Army, had two college degrees in the Welding/Metallurgy and Quality Control fields and felt like I might be able to run my own shop.  I flew to Chicago to a trade show, decided to buy an OMAX waterjet machine, and start my own cutting  business.  It was pretty tough at first, but things kept rolling and after about a year and a half, I decided to purchase a second cutting machine, only this time have it be a Plasma table.  Things kept getting busier after starting this website and pulling in work from all over the United States.  I have had increases in gross sales every year I've been in business, and I feel like the shop is pretty well established as of now.  I had been interviewed by the local paper a few times, the local television stations, and radio after doing some pretty interesting projects, and my popularity has spread.  By 2005, I had added a lathe, mill, powder coating set-up, an Ironworker, and a press brake. In the spring of 2006 I was getting pretty overwhelmed with orders being a one man shop. I was taking just about anything and everything that was coming through the door, and it was taking a toll on me. About that time, I was asked by the Idaho National Laboratory to go to work for them doing pretty much the same thing I was doing at home, and I decided a change might be good, and went to work for them in May of 2006.  I kept the shop running, but it was just part-time.  By June of 2008, I had decided working for someone else just wasn't what I liked to do, so I went back to running Rapid Creek Cutters again full time.  Now after 7 years under my belt, I run things a lot differently than I used to, try not to bury myself in work, and have learned to take breaks when you get them.  Things are good, and I'm happy to be my own boss again.