Your day just went south. You were drilling along, minding your own business and whamo! Drill rod problems. Your threads are damaged, you notice a couple of cracked welds or your drill pipe broke down the hole. Why did the drill pipe have problems, and who is responsible? Did the manufacturer have an issue? Did you do something to cause this? Maybe the downhole conditions created the problem? Or, maybe it’s a combination of factors?
The experienced driller might say, “I’ve been drilling for 30 years and never had this problem before. I’ve pushed, I’ve run loose and it can’t be me.” The manufacturer might say, “I made 200 rods in the same batch as yours and yet you are the only one with problems.” Defective manufacturing or operator error? How do we know?