I don't have any of these because I don't think they're that cool and the idea of walking around naked in the bathroom looking like a NASCAR never appealed to me that much.
When I am through working in the oilfield every day I want to get as far away from that shit as I can and don't need to look down and see things that remind me how much labor I had just endured or what I might have to endure the next day. My body is pretty much hollering at me in pain already; more mementos is the last thing I need.
If I was meant to have a tattoo it would have been something pleasant, like a 25 inch rainbow trout with a Parachute Adams stuck to its lip.
Some people in the oilfield, however, get plum attached to their work:
This is a coiled tubing unit, for crying out loud, tattooed on this worm's back, complete with a well schematic for BHA, perforation washing, drilling out frac plugs, etc.
Good grief.
The fatter this guy gets the longer the wheel base will get on this coiled tubing unit.
I understand the spinning chain thing, sorta.
I have no clue what the woman on the beach with the violin means but this dude better not start retaining water in his ankles.
This tattoo appears to be nearing reservoir depletion and economic limits. Then what?
This roughneck on the left has a well fire on his forearm. He probably has to cover that up when he goes on job interviews. The PDC bit is unique, however.
The guy below with the cable tool rig must be an historian.
Its probably safe to say the dude on the left is NOT from Wyoming.
I got "tattooed" once when I was about 20; the cable snapped on the backup tongs and I broke two ribs. Hurt to breathe for three weeks. The colors of that tattoo were really cool blacks, purples and blues behind a crimson red background. A punctured lung meant I could actually HEAR my tattoo.
The guy on the right was on a blowout one time, I guess; in Africa? Wild Well Control must have sent female blowout hands.
Me too, but not THAT proud. I can't tell if that is a nice red background or the beginning of blood poisoning.
Did the roughest roughneck around die in 2014 and the age of 53? I sure hope not.
This isn't a tattoo, its a mural. It will clearly take months to finish on a two weeks two week off shift basis. Hopefully this hand won't get laid off and have to get in the lawn mowing business.
Here's to lasting relationships and hope that Damon does not run off with a cocktail waitress from some joint in Big Spring.
Ouch.