# well drilling curved and bendy

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-drilling-curved-and-bendy/651220>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 24, 2013, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-drilling-curved-and-bendy/651220 "2013-02-24T03:47:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![crucible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@crucible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crucible)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-drilling-curved-and-bendy/651220/1 "2013-02-24T03:47:51Z")

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How, in fact, do they actually manage to change the direction that a drillhead is going? I sort of get how they tell where the drill head is located by remote telemetry, but…how do you make sure the drillhead is going to go where you want it to?

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**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-drilling-curved-and-bendy/651220/2 "2013-02-24T04:19:53Z")

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You put steel wedges around the casing before you insert the drill bit (following the addition of a new rod - the next 6-foot advance). This will deflect the drill bit off your present drilling line.

That’s for directional drilling. Left on its own, a drill almost always deflects, forming a spiral in the direction of the turn.

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**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\
**Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-drilling-curved-and-bendy/651220/3 "2013-02-24T04:57:27Z")

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In the oilfield we called it whipstocking. [- YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUP-b9e6MAE)