# DIY Water Well



## Dogrotten

Has anyone here used a HD2000 HYDRA DRILL RIG from Deeprock?

or

used this system http://howtodrillawell.com/ ?


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## 1969cj-5

Cool, the video was fun. The guy said it was dangerous, yet he was wearing shorts and sandals with no eye protection. Something else to put on the list of wants...


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## Bobbb

I've looked into this a lot. Those are often described as "toy drills" in that they can work quite well ONLY in limited conditions. For instance, if you're drilling somewhere along the Mississippi Delta, meaning through 200 feet of silt, then these babies can do the job. However, if you're drilling through gravel and rock then you won't get more than 10 feet deep before the drill becomes an expensive relic in your garage.

The best solution is for you to build your own drill rig and build it heavy duty. After you're finished strip the drill rig apart and use the parts elsewhere. Even better if you have a tractor with a PTO for that saves you having to buy an engine and a hydraulic system.


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## Dogrotten

A friend of mine has used the deeprock system for his hunting/trapping cabin but he only had to go 20 feet to hit water and said it worked fine, the wells around where i'll be going are 50 to 75 feet and the ground is gravel and course sand. Just dont want to spend a fortune to have someone drill a well for me, anyone know where I can get plans for a drill rig?


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## Bobbb

Dogrotten said:


> A friend of mine has used the deeprock system for his hunting/trapping cabin but he only had to go 20 feet to hit water and said it worked fine, the wells around where i'll be going are 50 to 75 feet and the ground is gravel and course sand. Just dont want to spend a fortune to have someone drill a well for me, anyone know where I can get plans for a drill rig?


I don't know of any plans. What I think you have to do is scour the internet and look at videos of home made drilling units.

Watch this video and note all of the components. You need to have a winch or hydraulics to hold the 75 feet of drill pipe (heavy) then you need to power the drilling unit and the mud pump. You can do like in this video and have one engine and split the power or you can have dedicated power for each function.


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## TopTop

If you are looking to build a rig from scratch don't overlook the pounder type drill rigs. While they are a lot slower I think it would be easier to build and operate plus a lot more durable than a "toy" type rotary drilling machine. Also more flexible. Commercial drillers are usually set up for either rock or sand, but not both. In my area it is not unusual for two different companies to drill one well. One does the overburden, the second finishes through the rock. An old style pounder can do both, plus the risk of collapse goes away since the casing goes in as the well is drilled. Another benefit is the pounding action can sort of "call up" the water while an inexperienced operator may drill right past a good stream. One big disadvantage is I don't think you could use plastic well casing with a pounder & you should be able to weld since threaded couplings will cause the casing to drive hard. I am no expert, just some stuff I picked up by having a few wells drilled & having a client that was a driller. Just thought it should be mentioned for anyone considering a home built rig.


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## TopTop

http://www.wellspringafrica.org/drildesc.htm

Here is an interesting link for pounding a well. It shows a simple but effective human powered machine, but you could easily use a vehicle for the muscle. If you have a pickup truck with an "open" type rear differential just remove the bed (Very easy to do. Many mechanics will pull the bed instead of dropping the gas tank to replace the electric fuel pump.) Then jack up one rear wheel & mount an empty rim. Secure the truck so it can't move & lock the brake on the other drive wheel then use the empty rim like a windlass to raise the drill bit.


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## VUnder

We have a drilling rig, but have drilled many ways. A guy that was here yesterday, we drilled a well a couple of years ago. We took some pipe and made us a derrick with four legs, about twelve feet tall. Took a gasoline post hole digger, and since the derrick was maybe 30" x 30", the handles wouldn't let the post hole digger spin inside the derrick. Bought a 50.00 winch at Harbor Freight, and it was mounted on top of the derrick, alongside a battery to operate it. We had 1" pipe in 10' lengths, and a drill bit on the bottom, completely home made bit.

Water is very important when drilling. So, a water course swivel is something you will need. We just had a little cheap one with a water hose fitting on it, and it fit on the 1" pipe. The water swivel allows you to put pressured water down the inside of the pipe while drilling. If you are in a remote area, a water pump and a tank can give you flow. A Chiksan joint is also a water flow item, but are more expensive. I just got a kit in to rebuild mine, but it has a full 2" flow.

Go down slow. Circulation is what keeps your cuttings from getting on top of your bit and keeping you from coming out of the hole. Look at how the air drill bit is made, that bit usually always comes out.

Really, you don't even have to have a post hole digger, I have drilled them and just turned the pipe with pipe wrenches. The derrick would be nice because you can come out of the hole easier. We used three skint pine trees for the derrick on that one. But, we still had a swivel joint and had water flow. Never turn the pipe in reverse, always turn it like you are drilling, even when you are raising it to come up. If you don't finish today, pull the pipe out and start back the next day. Don't leave the pipe in overnight, it will get stuck. read up on how to get a bit un-stuck, and be prepared for that. 

An air compressor is handy to have around. You can flow the well with it after you find water, and know how much your well produces. 

Buy a good screen to put in the bottom. It is just a piece of pipe with a lot of little slits in it that keeps sand and rocks from getting into the well. I usually drill a 7" hole for 4" casing, that way I have room to pour plenty of pea gravel around the outside of my well screen and it helps keep the dirt back.

Bentonite clay, get a little of that and pour into your well while you are drilling. Also called "drilling mud", it coats the inside of your well and keeps it from caving in. Also coats the bottom of your reserve pit and keeps your water from soaking into the ground. You don't have to put it there, it gets everywhere the water goes. 

If you hit rock, just pull up and move somewhere else. Mine does rock, but I have been drilling through 85 feet of solid rock so far. There are no rocks here on the top of the ground. I guess I am in bedrock. I will probably end up with a 300' well when it is all said and done.

So, really, the water course swivel is the only thing you may have to buy. Most all the other things you can beg, borrow, or steal. Turning it with a pipe wrench that time went surprisingly fast, was not hard at all, but we had water flowing. Always keep your pipe moving, you need to either be drilling down or coming back up, but don't ever sit still. 

It sounds like a lot, but it really isn't. Just take the advice and don't learn the hard lessons that have already been learned. I hope you never have to know what a fishing tool is. Watch the videos also of the Blue rigs made in Texas. Watch their procedure, how they have reserve pits dug, mixing drill mud up, and going down with the bit.

I have actually thought about making some forms for some curbs and going around digging hand dug wells. Lots of people are thinking about that these days. Having a well that you can dip with a bucket.


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## Well_Driller

TopTop said:


> If you are looking to build a rig from scratch don't overlook the pounder type drill rigs. While they are a lot slower I think it would be easier to build and operate plus a lot more durable than a "toy" type rotary drilling machine. Also more flexible. Commercial drillers are usually set up for either rock or sand, but not both. In my area it is not unusual for two different companies to drill one well. One does the overburden, the second finishes through the rock. An old style pounder can do both, plus the risk of collapse goes away since the casing goes in as the well is drilled. Another benefit is the pounding action can sort of "call up" the water while an inexperienced operator may drill right past a good stream. One big disadvantage is I don't think you could use plastic well casing with a pounder & you should be able to weld since threaded couplings will cause the casing to drive hard. I am no expert, just some stuff I picked up by having a few wells drilled & having a client that was a driller. Just thought it should be mentioned for anyone considering a home built rig.


PVC casing can be used if the hole can be kept open while drilling but the hole has to be big enough to allow the pipe to go in. I do it all the time. We only use steel casing and drive it in when drilling in mud, sand, and gravel formations. If you can get water at a fairly shallow depth and it's in sand or gravel and no rock in between then a simple drive point would be the cheapest thing to do. I don't think those small rotaries would do well in rock but the deep rock units might with the right bits, a commercial bit on one of those might do ok, but the fabricated bits they have probably wouldn't last long. I have a full sized cable tool rig with a drill string that's 20' long and even with that I do good to get 60ft a day drilling in rock in a 5" hole.


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## talob

I'm getting ready to put a well down here where I live, we have city water way out here in the country it's ok but it has a lot chlorine in it and I don't like being dependent on someone else for water if times get bad. I have done some research on it and there are several ways of doing it by hand for not a lot of money, I am currently in the process of building the tools now, the way I have setteld on basically uses a gin pole to drop a chisle tool with a cement mixer to lift the tool with a rope, I bought the cd on the method from www.lostcreek.net it looks like one of the cheaper ways of doing it you can go through most any soil and as deep as you need.


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## hiwall

"a simple drive point would be the cheapest thing to do"

When I lived in Minnesota I drove many well points down. Often could be done in two hours or less. We had a well in the garden that I pulled each fall so I did not hit it with the tractor when I worked up the garden. All you needed was a simple hand well pounder(like a big steel fence post pounder). Every hardware store rented them.


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## Well_Driller

talob said:


> I'm getting ready to put a well down here where I live, we have city water way out here in the country it's ok but it has a lot chlorine in it and I don't like being dependent on someone else for water if times get bad. I have done some research on it and there are several ways of doing it by hand for not a lot of money, I am currently in the process of building the tools now, the way I have setteld on basically uses a gin pole to drop a chisle tool with a cement mixer to lift the tool with a rope, I bought the cd on the method from www.lostcreek.net it looks like one of the cheaper ways of doing it you can go through most any soil and as deep as you need.


What you described is the very basics of the cable tool. I have bits that are shaped like a chisel on the end called a chisel bit or regular pattern bit. Only difference is with a full rig the drill stem which gives you the weight is about 20' long and it is heavy. You'll need plenty of water to drill with. I can easily go though 300 gallon sometimes in less than a day.


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## talob

I am well on the way to getting the well down will attach a pic' of my rig, I'm on a steep learning curve here, A lot of problems and very hard and slow going in this red Kentucky gumbo (red clay) I am down to about sixteen to eighteen feet now am maintaining about a twelve to fourteen inch hole, I have about five feet of water in the hole now, not sure how deep I need to go, on the up side looks like I should be able to drop a six inch caseing in with no problem, will be out there thunking away again today will keep informd how it comes out.


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## TheLazyL

talob said:


> I am well on the way to getting the well down will attach a pic' of my rig, I'm on a steep learning curve here, A lot of problems and very hard and slow going in this red Kentucky gumbo (red clay) ...


Perhaps it's just the angle of the picture, looks like the weight is pulling in the far side of the scaffolding .

Ain't most of the fun figuring how to and then seeing if your idea works?


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## talob

TheLazyL said:


> Perhaps it's just the angle of the picture, looks like the weight is pulling in the far side of the scaffolding .
> 
> Ain't most of the fun figuring how to and then seeing if your idea works?


What you see is the back end of the scaffolding up on blocks, well my well drilling project just came to a screeching halt! Just spent the last four days thunking hard to make about three inches progress (rock) just started makeing progress again then broke the end of the tool off in the hole! looks like I'll have to go to plan B (soon as I figure out what that is)


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## Well_Driller

talob said:


> What you see is the back end of the scaffolding up on blocks, well my well drilling project just came to a screeching halt! Just spent the last four days thunking hard to make about three inches progress (rock) just started makeing progress again then broke the end of the tool off in the hole! looks like I'll have to go to plan B (soon as I figure out what that is)


You need to run your casing through that red clay and down to the bedrock. It sounds like you found the rock. If you're going to use 6" casing and you're into the rock then you can drop down to a 6" bit. Expect it to drill slow. With no more weight than you have it's not going to be fast. With my full size cable tool rig I only get anywhere from 20 to 60 ft a day and that's with a chisel bit with about 20ft solid steel drill stem 4" diameter which is very heavy. So how deep are you now? You're probably going to have to make a tool to fish out your broken bit. What were you using to drill with?


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## talob

Well_Driller said:


> You need to run your casing through that red clay and down to the bedrock. It sounds like you found the rock. If you're going to use 6" casing and you're into the rock then you can drop down to a 6" bit. Expect it to drill slow. With no more weight than you have it's not going to be fast. With my full size cable tool rig I only get anywhere from 20 to 60 ft a day and that's with a chisel bit with about 20ft solid steel drill stem 4" diameter which is very heavy. So how deep are you now? You're probably going to have to make a tool to fish out your broken bit. What were you using to drill with?


I am down to thirteen feet, hole diameter is twelve to fourteen inches and I have water in the hole at about nine feet. The way I see it I have four options first is build a new tool (inproved) and start another hole next to where I'm at now, not a very attractive option I have a lot of work in this one. Second is drop a caseing into the hole I have now at this depth and hope. Third is try another method of drilling a smaller hole along side of the broken tool but I really would like to get at least a four inch caseing down there. Fourth is try to hook the broken tool with something to get it out but it really is driving into the mud and of coarse I can't see it. My tool consistid of a 2.5" heavy wall pipe with a rebar loop on top a quarter inch by six steel plate on bottom with a piece of grader blade bolted on that for a bit, the pipe was filled with concrete for added weight, the weld didnt break the six inch plate broke along the bottom of the pipe. Once in a while this do it yourself thing will bite ya right in the ass guess it's this steep learning curve.


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## Well_Driller

The water you have there now is either coming up from the rock, or is in between the rock and clay seam. You need to keep drilling. You will probably find the water in the rock. An 8" to 9" hole is plenty big enough to put 6" PVC casing in. We go down 15 to 20' here in most places and find the grey shale which is a sediment rock. If you can go find a lifting magnet. I think i'd try this first. I actually have what's called a fishing magnet for stuff like that. You are the only one who knows what you dropped in the hole so it's up to you to come up with something to get it out. I can only offer some suggestions based on what you tell me. If you do get it out, in order to drill the rock with no more weight than you have you're probably going to have to make a star pattern bit to drill it. I think it would work the best for what you're doing. I've had to fish lost tools out of a hole before and I was 120' down the hole, but I got the tools out and finished the well. It doesn't happen very often but every once in a while it does.


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## talob

Just came in from a fishing expidition, made up a pole with a shelf bracket screwed on the end of it can feel the tool down there havent hooked it yet, it would really take a super magnet to pull this thing out of the mud, I have six feet of water in the hole thinking tomorrow maybe pumping as much water out as I can if my trash pump will pull it up then maybe work up the mud enough to loosen up the tool. INTERESTING!


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## TopTop

Just wondering, if you can get usable water at 20 feet or so why not just hire an extend-a-hoe. They could dig it, install the casing & backfill it in half a day.


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## Well_Driller

TopTop said:


> Just wondering, if you can get usable water at 20 feet or so why not just hire an extend-a-hoe. They could dig it, install the casing & backfill it in half a day.


If the water he has now is coming from between the clay and top of the rock it most likely will not clean up. I see this a lot here in OH. If that water is coming up through the rock then it would be OK, but it's hard to tell that and he may be just at the top of an aquifer. If so he's not deep enough. That water may not be there in a month as the water table drops. I fixed a well once where someone done something similar. They got a little water and stopped. When I started on it there was no water there. I ended up going down to 150' to make a good well out of it.


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## talob

IM A HAPPY THUNKER! After three days of sweating and swearing and fishing I finally got the broken tool out of the hole fixed it and gonna start thunking a well down again!


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## Well_Driller

talob said:


> IM A HAPPY THUNKER! After three days of sweating and swearing and fishing I finally got the broken tool out of the hole fixed it and gonna start thunking a well down again!


Well, you didn't do too bad then. I've seen fishing jobs take longer... Here's a couple pics of one of my 5" chisel bits. This was just after dressing the bit, it's dressed for drilling the shales.


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## LincTex

Is there a big crack running down the middle of the face?


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## Well_Driller

LincTex said:


> Is there a big crack running down the middle of the face?


Yes there is a crack there. It was there when I got the bit. We've stopped the crack from moving up and it's almost been worked out. After dressing a few more times in the forge it will be gone.


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## talob

Hey Well _Driller can I borrow your thunking tool? Yeah I broke mine off in the hole again! On the up side it's not stuck in the mud this time, yesterday the last time I bailed the hole the mud color went from copper red to about baby shit green don't know if it means anything then hit solid rock at 27.5' was pounding down through the rock today when the tool broke off hell of it is I was keeping an eye on it so it wouldent happen again had welded up some broken welds a half hour befor, anybody got a big magnet


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## Well_Driller

What are you welding it together with? You shouldn't be having that much trouble with the welds holding. My bit would probably be a bit hard to handle it's heavy! I do have a fishing magnet....


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## talob

Yeah I allso have a fishing magnet now, was in Bowling Green this morning went to Harbor Freight got the biggest they had, got the broken tool out of the hole welded up again and reinforced, my problem could be bad welds bad design more than likely both I'll give er hell again tomorrow!


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## Well_Driller

So are you using a wire welder or a stick welder??


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## talob

I'm just useing my old buzz box 7014 rod, acutally I am getting pretty good looking welds it's probably more poor design than anything else I'm just trying to finish this job with this one I hope i'm near the end I'd really like to find good water when I get through this rock, if we put a well down for a buddy will build a new and "improved" tool.


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## LincTex

talob said:


> I'm just using my old buzz box and 7014 rod,


It has been a while, and I don't have my books handy.... but I am pretty sure that 7014 is low penetration rod. E6011 works best for the base pass, 7014 is for top pass only.


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## talob

Well now, guess I'll have to do a little studying and adjust, welding is just one of the many things I "kinda" do thanks for that.


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## Well_Driller

Make sure you bevel what you're welding to get a full penetration weld. 6011 for root pass and 7018 is best to finish with. You can use just 7018 if you want but make sure the steel is clean. 7018 comes in both DC and AC, make sure you got the right one if you use it. If you've never run 7018 it takes a little bit to get used to, but it makes a strong weld. We weld steel well casing with it and sometimes the rig beats the hell out if it driving it down and never had one crack.


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## talob

Well project update, it looks like I'm as deep as I'm gonna go with this method, I'm at thirty two and half feet and about four to five feet into solid rock, the problem is my tool keeps getting hung up in the rock finally got it out for the third time yesterday with a comealong, made a hook and dropped a chain down and hooked it really didn't think I'd get it out this time. I'm getting five to six feet of water in the hole overnight thinking of dropping a four in pvc caseing down and calling it a halfass well but not happy about doing that at all, sure wish I had a buddy with a stick of dynomite (and knew how to use it).


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## Well_Driller

You don't have the right style bit for what you're drilling in. Our chisel bits will stick in the shale if we let them wear down too much. If we keep them dressed out as they should be it's not a problem. You're probably into bedrock. Most likely you will be drilling in some form of rock or another the rest of the way down. As I suggested before, a star pattern bit might be the best tool with what you have. You can make one...


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## talob

Well driller, no doubt your probably right, but oh lord, I've been measureing progress in inches a week! The thought of rock the rest of the way down is really disheartning, the thing that has kept me going is maybe I'd break through this rock, as I tell everyone I feel like the person thats addicted to gambling, the next pull on the handle might be the big one, the next drop of the too might break through, the gambler wins just enough to keep them going I'm getting just enough water comeing in to keep me going. But I will say one thing about this project it's been a real learning experience! Can you give me any kind of diagram of what this star pattern tool should look like and would it get me through the rock any quicker? Thanks


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## hiwall

If you google star drill or go to a hardware store and ask to see a star drill(hand drill for cement) then I think you will get the idea how it should look.


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## Well_Driller

For the weight you have yes the star pattern bit will probably drill a little faster. You normally find water in either sand & gravel, or rock. Your water is probably in that rock and you will have to drill into it to get it. What color is it and what does the cuttings look like? Sandy? Can you easily break a piece apart with your fingers? Does it kind of look like clay mixed with the water? Here's the only image of a star bit I could find. Doesn't show the end but you can imagine it kind of looks like two pieces of steel plate stood on end and they cross each other giving you 4 cutting edges. Some have six points. Remember, it will be slow. I only get anywhere from 20ft to 60ft a day and that's with a 20ft 4" diameter solid steel sinker bar on my bits weighing in at around 1500 lbs or so. Try making the star bit, and keep working at it and you'll get there. I'm guessing you probably need to drill another 30ft or so to get it producing a decent amount of water. Put as much weight on it that you can deal with. The more weight the better, and you shouldn't have as much trouble with the star bit sticking. Also I don't know what your bit looks like but if you look at the other image I posted of one of my regular pattern bits, you see how the very outer edge tapers out to a sharp edge. That keeps it from sticking. When those outer edges wear down and get flat on the sides or starts to taper in toward the bottom, that's when they start sticking.


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## talob

I believe I got it on the shape of the star bit, waffle shape? The tool I'm useing now picture a shovel squared off on the bottom, bottom edge is a piece of grader blade and yeah the corners are worn rounded. The cuttings I'm getting now are grey rock chips (limestone I believed) I'm noticeing some what looks like white mud? Was getting looked like sand and fine gravel with some of that sand colerd rock that you could crush with your fingers, sounds like the main thing is tool tapers out on the corners.


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## LincTex

talob said:


> The cuttings I'm getting now are grey rock chips (limestone I believed).


Shale?


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## Startingout-Blair

And up came a'bubblin crude! Lmao! Sorry! Had to inject some humor.


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## Well_Driller

Here's a pic of my drill stem with a 5" button bit.


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## talob

Startingout-Blair said:


> And up came a'bubblin crude! Lmao! Sorry! Had to inject some humor.


Man I only wish!


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## talob

LincTex said:


> Shale?


Don't know reckon it could be shale, kinda looks like that.


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## talob

Well_Driller said:


> Here's a pic of my drill stem with a 5" button bit.


Now that kina puts thing in sperspective.


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## Well_Driller

talob said:


> Don't know reckon it could be shale, kinda looks like that.


Shale is a sediment rock made from clay so when it's all ground up and mixed with water it turns into a clay slurry, usually with larger cuttings mixed in. You can break those little pieces apart easily. The layers of shale sometimes vary in hardness, some is pretty hard and some fairly soft. Sometimes the softer shales stick to the bits and they come up with a slab of what looks a lot like clay stuck to the side of them. If we need to take a closer look at the cuttings then we wash them in clean water to get a good look at them.


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## Riverdale

I hand drove a 30' deep bt 1¼" well for the garden. Took a couple hours and a 6 pack. Might've taken an hour if I did not have the six pack


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## talob

SHOWOFF!!


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## LincTex

Riverdale said:


> I hand drove a 30' deep bt 1¼" well for the garden. Took a couple hours and a 6 pack. Might've taken an hour ....


Yeah,..... in SAND. Try that here. It takes an hour to go down a foot in the solid limestone.


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## talob

Hell, if I could make a foot an hour I'd be damn thrilled!....Even a foot a day!!


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## LincTex

talob said:


> Hell, if I could make a foot an hour I'd be damn thrilled!....Even a foot a day!!


Sounds like Granite.


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## easyshack

Yes, deeprock drills will work, if you have rock or hard formations, there are larger drills. For deeprock parts or used M-60 drilling rigs go to (link removed), also they have hands on drill training. Training will make the differance between yippie and Oh no..


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## Country Living

easyshack said:


> Yes, deeprock drills will work, if you have rock or hard formations, there are larger drills. For deeprock parts or used M-60 drilling rigs go to (link removed) , also they have hands on drill training. Training will make the differance between yippie and Oh no..


The newby has three posts whose only purpose is pushing this website. If it looks like :spam: and it sounds like :spam: then maybe it is :spam:.


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## drilling_ex

Deep Rock (original) is no longer in business. They went bankrupt a year ago. The people selling (supposedly) deep rock rigs now are just using the name. They also have Drill Cat too. I just found this website, it is not a advertisement just a warning for any looking to deal with deep rock. 
www.deeprockdrilling.com

I am just trying to help.


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## LincTex

Yeah, I see that. Marquez, Texas - - same as before. The Drillcat website is loaded with pictures of a high-end shop and shelves full of expensive tooling.... I need to drive over and see what it REALLY looks like.

DeepRock Manufacturing 2129 South V W Goodwin Blvd, Marquez, Texas 77865


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