The 6-Check Drill Bit Ordering Checklist for Varel Oil & Gas Drill Bits

If you're landing on this page because you need Varel oil and gas drill bits or because a quote uses the word 'stock' and you're not sure what it means, this is for you. This is not a brochure. It is the checklist I use before approving a drill bit order for our supply team.

I've spent 6 years handling drill bit purchase orders on the procurement side. I'm not a drilling engineer. I'm the person who gets blamed when an order arrives and it doesn't fit. I've personally made and documented 5 significant order mistakes — totaling roughly $26,000 in wasted budget once you count freight, rushed components, and the hours spent unscrambling them. Now I maintain our team's drill bit checklist so someone else doesn't make the same phone calls I made.

Before we get into the list: this is not a bit-selection article. I'm not going to tell you which Varel bit drills which formation. That conversation has enough experts. This article is about the six operational checks that people forget when they are busy approving purchase orders.

What was best practice in 2020 may not apply in 2025. The fundamentals haven't changed, but the execution has. And in drill bit procurement, the boring details are where the money goes.

The 6-check drill bit order checklist

Use this before you send the PO, then again when the bit is delivered. It sounds simple, but every expensive mistake I have made came from skipping one line.

1. Separate 'stocked item' from 'stock design'

Most buyers focus on price, lead time, and bit type. They miss the difference between a bit that is physically in a warehouse and a bit whose design is standard. I made this mistake more than once.

Here's something vendors won't tell you: 'stock' in a catalog often means 'we make this without special engineering,' not 'we have it ready to ship.' The word gets copied from the catalog into a quote. Nothing malicious, but if you read it as immediate availability, you'll be disappointed.

If a quote says stock, ask three questions: Where is the physical bit now? If it is not manufactured yet, what is the firm production date? And will the inspection paperwork be ready on the same day, or three days later?

2. Verify the quote against the latest bit program, not the last email

Believe it or not, a quote can have the correct Varel part number and still be wrong. That happens when the drilling program changes after you requested the quote. The supplier is working from old information. You are working from the same old information because the request was already sent.

In 2022, I submitted a PO for a Varel bit. The model, quantity, and price all looked correct on my screen. But I had pulled the reference from a two-week-old BHA revision. It didn't get caught until the yard test, after the freight bill had already been paid.

Now I put the source document name and date directly on the PO. If I can't write 'per drilling program revision 4, dated 3 February 2025,' then I don't issue the PO.

3. Re-check the connection after the final BHA change

The question everyone asks about a bit is 'what size?' The question they should ask is 'what connection?' Most buyers check diameter and cutting structure but completely miss the connection type.

I don't mean only whether the thread is 6 5/8 REG or 7 5/8 REG. I mean whether the finished assembly on location actually has the same connection. A motor change, a stabilizer swap, or a saver sub decision can change what the bit needs to make up to.

If the confirmation does not have a line for connection, ask for it. If it has a line for connection, read it as if your invoice depends on it—because it does.

4. Request the paperwork package before freight is booked

The second most common hold-up I see is not the bit; it's the certificate that goes with it. A bit sitting in a bonded warehouse can't be cleared without the correct paperwork. The fastest bit in the world is useless if customs won't release it.

Now we ask for an advance copy of the packing list, commercial invoice, and manufacturer's certificate or quality release. More importantly, we check that the entity name, PO number, and serial numbers match. A certificate for the same model but a different legal entity can create problems later.

5. Inspect the physical bit before you sign the delivery note

This is the one everyone intends to do and almost no one does. Freight drivers wait, forklifts beep, somebody wants lunch. So we signed and put the crate into storage. Later we opened it and found the thread protector was loose and the pin area had taken an impact. It looked minor. It wasn't.

It isn't necessary to fully open the box on the back of the truck. It is necessary to look at the crate, the stamping or label, and the thread protector before you sign. If something is questionable, write 'received subject to inspection' on the delivery note and take photos. That small sentence has saved us more than once.

6. State new vs serviceable in the purchase order

A serviceable or reconditioned Varel bit can be a legitimate choice. But the words 'buy Varel bit' do not tell a supplier whether you expect a new cutter structure or a repaired field-run bit. That ambiguity is dangerous.

Every PO now includes one line: item condition — new manufacture or serviceable/repaired. If the bit is supposed to be new, the quote needs to say new. If it is serviceable, ask for the repair or run history and make sure it's acceptable before you plan the job.

What about search comparisons like Varel vs Hawk or Lincoln vs Hawk?

I see this a lot: people ask whether a Varel bit beats a Hawk bit, or whether a Lincoln bit should be on the same list. My honest answer is: it depends. I don't have enough data to make a universal claim, and I don't trust a sales pitch that gives you one without asking which bit size, which formation, which BHA, and which dull condition you expect.

From an order desk perspective, I can tell you what I tell our team: the best comparison in the world doesn't help you if the winning bit cannot arrive before the rig is ready. A bit that is physically available with the right connection, documentation, and cutter selection is often the right choice. That is why the checklist comes before the brand debate.

Final reminder

In the past 18 months, this checklist has caught eight or nine mistakes before they became invoices. I might be misremembering the exact number, but the exact number isn't the point. The point is every one of those mistakes looked like a boring paperwork detail until you multiplied it by the cost of a waiting rig.

So, bottom line: clarify what 'stock' means, verify the model against the latest program, confirm the connection, get documents before freight, inspect before signing, and state new vs serviceable. It's not clever. It's just a lot cheaper than the phone call I had to make in 2022.

The fundamentals haven't changed. The execution has. If you treat every drill bit order like it might be delayed, you will prevent the delays that are actually preventable.