In my last column, I wrote about developing well screens in cable tool drilled wells and here are a couple more, including perhaps the two most popular methods.
In my experience, the most popular method of developing wells drilled with a cable tool rig is the surge block. This tool, in cross section, looks like a hamburger sandwich with steel plates as the bun and a piece of rubber belting or similar material as the burger. Some surge blocks are made like a double decker hamburger with 3 steel “buns” and two “burgers.” This tool is attached to the cable tool string in place of the drill bit and lowered into the well below the water line. Then, the spudding action is started. This tool supposedly moves the water in the well and the well screen back and forth, breaking up bridges of sand and bringing finer particles into the screen.