Thrilling Drilling

I HAVEN’T EVEN FINISHED READING LARRY C. Hoffman’s excellent piece on the evolution of rock drilling (“The Rock Drill and Civilization,” Summer 1999), but I’m already thinking of his work as being in the same vein as the wonderful PBS series Out of the Fiery Furnace . Sparked by Huffman’s imagery, vivid recollections spring to mind of my own childhood and adolescent experiences (frequently frustrated and/or painful) with hammer and star drill while assisting my father with house repairs and renovations. Recollections of later visits to functioning underground mines and recent work with a variety of consumer-grade and light commercial electric hammer drills and carbide-tipped bits only serve to reinforce for me Hoffman’s point that advances in rockdrilling technology and materials have enabled steady progress not only in mining, tunneling, and excavation but also in construction, ground transportation, and finally—as Hoffman says—in worldwide commerce, as ever more efficiently extracted minerals contribute to the wealth of humankind.

Nice work, Hoffman!