Howard "Porky" Cutter discusses the magazine's first quarter-century.

Over the many years of the then Doc Faison's National Drillers Buyers Guide and later the National Driller, this publication has been my bible. If a product is any good, it's usually advertised in this publication. When I travel, I always have a copy with me. If I need to find a supplier, manufacturer or a piece of equipment, I look in my copy of the National Driller. When people no longer advertise in the National Driller, we just assume they have died or went out of business.

To my knowledge, Doc Faison started the publication as a hobby and almost immediately, it became required reading. As soon as drillers receive the publication, they open it and scan through it; then in their leisure time, they study it thoroughly. Look for it in almost any driller's truck or restroom.

Many drillers keep each publication forever and others at least a year. Bess usually discards mine after a year unless I can hide them somewhere.

I receive extra copies each month that I distribute among non-receivers and urge them to sign up to receive their own monthly publication. If a driller wants to know what's out there, he looks in the National Driller. To my knowledge, most of the people who advertise in the National Driller are reliable. If a supplier doesn't advertise in the National Driller, I'd be skeptical.

When I recently was in Haiti, I gave my students a copy of National Driller. Surprisingly, the students that spoke only Creole could read and understand the publication. My old driller friend and client in Taiwan can speak very little English, but he looks forward to receiving the National Driller every month.

I have been writing a monthly column for ND for so many years I don't remember when I started. I'm not a professional writer, as most of the readers know. However, at the expositions, even the wives of drillers tell me how much they enjoy reading my stories, if they can get hold of the copy before it goes to the rig.

I recently returned from Haiti and while I was waiting for my luggage in the Miami International Airport, a man approached me and said, “Hi Porky!” I asked, “Do I know you?” He said, “No, but I read your stories in the National Driller and really enjoy them all.”

You can write only so much about a great publication - after that, you start repeating yourself. So, if you want to be “in the know” and know what's out there, be sure to get your own copy of the National Driller. If you want to sell a drilling or pump-related product or a new or used drill, advertise it in the National Driller.

Note: Watch for my next article as we just returned from our oldest grandson's wedding where Reverend Bess officiated the wedding ceremonies; it may be interesting. Could this one day make me my own grandpa?
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