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@codytheginger69

I’m the guy throwing chain!

@buttonman6262

Worked as a roughneck for 5 years offshore. During that time I was impervious to body fat.

@acousticarchivefortwayne930

Thanks for your video. Nice job. I worked as a roughneck from 1978-1979 in Northern California drilling for natural gas.
I’d lost my job as a route driver delivering soda pop and needed to earn money to get back home to Wisconsin. I had a buddy that was a Driller on the rigs so I asked him if I could get on. 
He said, “No”. Then I asked if there were ever any openings. He said, “No. You’d hate it and you’d never make it anyway.” I told him I was in good shape and could handle the work. He laughed. We were sitting at the bar so I asked if he wanted another and he said, “Sure.” After half an hour of me asking for a job and him giving every reason I’d never make it he finally said, “Ok, go to the union hall and tell ‘em I asked for you. When they call you back, call me and I’ll tell you what’s next.”
My first shift was 4-midnight. About four hours in I was sucking air and dry heaving over the rail. About that time Tex, the Tool Pusher who oversaw all the crews on the rig, walks up on the floor. “How you doing?” he asks me. “Fine” I replied. Seeing right through that he says “Don’t worry, you’ll get your appetite for lunch back in a couple weeks.”  
Well, I went from 145 lb. to 185 lb. in about 3 months, got stronger, and managed to make it until I had enough money. One day I went to Tex and told told him my plan to go home and he looked at me and in that kind Texas drawl said, “Home is a good place to be. You did a good job.” Hippie, the Driller on our crew said, “You can always say you were a roughneck once and that’s not something everybody can say.” So thanks to Tex and Hippie and Heifer, Piggy, and Gummy for looking out for me when I was a real rookie those first months. Also, if any of you guys are out there don’t worry about that knock-down that happened when the 4-way sling let loose. I don’t think it, I don’t think it, I don’t think it affected me at all.
Why do hippies like to work on drilling rigs?
Dope comes in 5 gallon buckets, we’re always making joints, and we trip every 24 hours!
Thanks again for the video. And stay safe.

@lylesommers5018

The next time you complain about how hard your 9 to 5 job is, just watch this video, much respect to these hardworking guys.

@dennishorn8636

I worked 45 yrs in the oil and gas business, started out as a roughneck in the "worm corner". Working as the derrickman was the best job I ever had. We were lean and mean. Best physical shape I was ever in.

@rayharwell8974

I’m a Co. Man who’s spent 30 yrs now in the patch working from the freezing colds of Alaska to the scorching heat of West Texas, Jackups in the GoM to Liftboats in Nigeria and that was an explanation from a true hand. That roughneck’s a hand, too! Well done to you both!

@plk5520

Great video and it sparked a memory. A guy I knew in the seventies worked on an offshore oil rig for 15 years. He was from Louisiana. Aside from being a roughneck I remember that he used the terms "tool push" and "roustabout" to describe the different jobs he had on the rig through the years. I seem to recall that entry level labor on a rig had something to do with pushing around endless bags of drilling mud and other grunt work. Possibly the job description of a roustabout. At one point his job consisted of spending each 12 hour shift strapped by a harness to the top of a tower, (derrick?), from which he muscled 300 pound sections of drill pipe, lowering them into position, one after the other. It appears that a lot of the labor that was done by hand back then has been replaced by machinery. Some of the more dangerous practices have been eliminated.  He made very good money and his schedule was 12 hours on-12 hours off, 3 weeks on the rig- then 3 weeks off, which he spent at home with his family.. He told me a lot of stories including one in which a worker was struck in the head by a section of spinning chain, and that was it for him. Unfortunately that was the possible reality of it back then. Interestingly by the time I met him in 1977 he was working as the captain of a shrimp boat. I was walking the commercial fishing docks looking for work, and being in need of a replacement he hired me on as a crew member.  I slightly "exaggerated" my previous experience in the commercial fishing industry.  I actually had none and was a complete greenhorn. If I'd told the truth he never would have hired me. He admitted as much later. It worked out, but there was an adjustment period. Kind of grueling. To keep things in perspective while I got used to the hard work, grew my sea legs and toughened my hands, he always had a harrowing story to tell me about working on an oil rig. A shout out, my respect and gratirude to Captain Albert Chaisson, wherever he may be.

@donmackey9926

I haven’t roughnecked for 30 years. I can still feel the movements when throwing chain. It is just an amazing, almost magical, feeling.

@Girrrrrrrr

Great explanation. Being from Texas, I always wondered how these jobs went. Also I can't get enough of the comments from the men who've bled and sweat to give us the life of luxury we have today. Respect.

@texassparky

I did this shit in the late 90's as a teenager out in west Texas. OSHA wasn't a big thing back then. All I can say is, these dudes are amazing. Safety warning. Do Not F with a Rough Neck! These dudes are strong as hell, have un-ending endurance, an incredible work ethic, sense of loyalty, and absolutely zero patience for lazy or weak people. You wanna learn to be a man? Work a oil rig for a summer. You'll know if your tough or not after that. Stack them pipes brothers! Well done good Men!

@shannonmurphy1963

Dude as an engineer in midstream I for the life of me couldn't understand what the chains were for. All I could think was "what's with the chains that looks SUPER dangerous. And when it started spinning I escalated to WHY THE CHAINS?!" Scary. Thanks for explaining. Glad that practice is being designed away. It takes a lot of skill to be safe here that's clear.

@cliffordself8090

I did this offshore for many years, it turned me into a machine.

@joeo7257

Damn good description.  You clearly know your stuff.  In the 80's we didn't say, 'Put down your purse."  We would say, "Put some hair around it."  Same meaning.  Notice he is not exerting allot of force on anything.  He is leaning in to it.  You don't have to be big to make a great hand.  Teamwork and timing was everything. New subscriber.

@drywallerdave01

Remember throwing chain for Precision Drilling in the mid nineties in central Alberta, it was a great way to take a break from construction work, it was  also nice to be young enough to do such work

@BeardnScars

Rough necking is one thing I never did, I was a railroad labor and now am a coal miner I would love to do this especially the work out that it is. Props to these boys.

@MissNebulosity

FINALLY after all these years if watching random clips of this kind of work, I actually understand what they are doing. it never dawned on me that they were simply adding more and more sections to the existing pipe. i feel silly.

@acousticarchivefortwayne930

Thanks for your video. You did a nice job of explaining what's going on. I worked on a gas drilling rig in Northern California 1978-1979.
A friend of mine was a foreman on one of the three shifts. I'd just lost a job as a Pepsi driver and needed to make some money so I could get back home to Wisconsin. I asked him if there was any work on the rig and he said, "No." I asked him if there would be any openings and he said "No." I told him I really needed and job and he said, "You'll hate it. You'll never last." I told him I'd been humping freight as a Pepsi driver and was in good shape. He laughed. We were sitting at the bar and I asked if he and his buddy, who worked with him, wanted another round he said "Sure". Well I didn't let up asking and he didn't let up discouraging me until he finally said, "Go to the union hall, put in your name, and tell 'em I asked for you." 
My first night was a 4 to midnight shift. Four hours in I was sucking air and dry heaving over the rail. I thought I was gonna die. I'd never done anything that was so relentlessly hard. About that time Tex the tool pusher, who oversaw the drilling crews, came up on the floor to meet me. He asked how I was doing and I said "Fine" but he saw through that and said, "Don't worry, you'll get an appetite for lunch in a couple weeks."  Well long, long story short, I did make it and went from 145 lb. to 185 lb. in about 3 months. So thanks for taking me on Hippie and thanks to the other guys, Piggie, Heifer, and Gummy, for watching out for me when I was a real rookie. And as a far as that knock down I took that night when the four-way sling broke loose - well it makes a great story. And I don't think, I don't think, I don't think it ever affected me.
So why do hippies like to work on drilling rigs?
Dope comes in 5 gallon buckets, we're always making joints, and we trip every 24 hours!
Best of luck to you. Thanks for the video.

@seyahfarms3470

Finally someone knows what they are talking about. Met so many over the years say they worked the rigs, but had no idea what they did. NO ONE FORGETS THIS OLD SCHOOL

@e.r3196

Fascinating to watch but incomprehensible to understand what’s going on unless you’ve been in the field. Thanks for explaining.