Spending over 40 years in the drill pipe industry has sent me on more than a couple trips to look at drill rod problems. Even the obvious extremes give us lessons. Here are two “extreme” examples.
My very first field excursion was to Philippi, West Virginia. We had sold some 4½-inch-by-15-foot flush-joint drill rods to go on a Portadrill drill rig. Shortly after receiving these, the customer called. He spoke to our manager and said the threads on one end were not the same as on the other. Our manager was quite adamant that this was impossible, and he sent me down to take a look.