Timberstone Tools
Timberstone Tools produces world class measurement systems that transmit real-time data collected at the bit during drilling operations 6 km underground in high temperature boreholes.
Finalist for:
Innovative Excellence (Hardware)
When – and how – was your company born?
Timberstone started off in 2010 when we were asked if we could design a high temperature, high pressure camera that could communicate over 8000m of single conductor wire from the bottom of an oil well. We had never done anything like that before…so of course we agreed wholeheartedly!
We completed this camera project during evenings and weekends while working full time in the engineering department at UVic. In September of 2014 we decided to go out on our own and really make a go of consulting to the oil and gas industry…right at the start of the biggest oil & gas commodities price slump. Timing is everything 🙂
Who are some of your clients? What projects are you working on right now, and what do they do?
STEP Energy Services is an industry leading coiled tubing service provider operating in Canada and the USA. They are increasingly incorporating our Coil-Link system into their operations and we hope to solidify a commercial relationship with them soon.
Hy-Tech Drilling is an exploratory diamond drilling company in the mining industry. We are providing some cutting-edge equipment for them to recover drilling rods that have become stuck up to 2500m underground.
Rysco Corrosion Services who provide pipeline corrosion monitoring services. We are developing a state of the art data logging system for them which has just completed the hazardous environment certifications. The pilot units are being deployed to Global markets.
What was a pivotal moment for your company?
In 2016, Timberstone pivoted from a full-time consulting company to a consulting/product-development split. After completing our market research, we started on our path to creating Coil-Link, which is a real-time data service for actively monitoring downhole conditions at the bit during drilling operations.
What’s the most important thing you’ve learned along the way?
We’ve learned so much we’re starting to wonder what we knew when we started 🙂 The pivot to product development was a real eye opener. The biggest takeaway that comes to mind is that product-market fit is the most important thing. There is usually a difference between what the customer wants and what engineers think the customer wants. It turns out that it is helpful to ask first and build second. If you are not solving market pain points, there is a good chance you won’t be selling anything.
What does the future 10 years look like for your company?
We enjoy building equipment for challenging environments. But now more than ever it’s the environment and the world we live in that are being challenged. We have identified several areas in the oil and gas industry where we can have a real impact on reduced emissions, pollution, and improving pipeline integrity.  Launching Coil-Link, an oilfield monitoring product destined to help its users gain efficiencies in the field and decrease their operational footprint was our first step. Making a pipeline corrosion monitoring system has been our second step. There are many other products and projects that we can take on where we can make a difference, be challenged, be revenue positive and grow our team.