I read the drilling magazines. I read articles that interest me, and these are the ones about the drilling and drilling tools. (Sorry, pump and mud people.) Drilling stories interest me, not because I am a driller, but because I want to learn about drilling and what is out there in the marketplace. I also read the advertisements. I especially search for anything related to drill pipe, as drill pipe has always been in my product range. The last 15 years or so, it has been my only product.
I want to talk about drill pipe. Here in the East, they are called drill rods. In other parts of the country, it is called drill pipe. Go to Europe, and they’re drill tubes. During my first 20 years in this business, it was drill rods. It reminds me of the terminology for carbonated beverages. Are we drinking pop or soda? Being from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, it was always pop. It stayed pop until I moved at 40 to Kentucky with a soon-to-be wife from Philly. The first time “soda” slipped out, it was like I had broken a loyalty pledge. It was the same when I started to say drill pipe instead of drill rod. So, bear with me as I use the terminology “drill pipe.”