Drill bit shank shaft and shank, is usually of the same diameter. It is held usually in a three-jaw drill chuck. Bits of diameter too small to grip firmly can have straight shanks of larger diameter than the drill, which can be held firmly in a standard size collet or chuck. Large drill bits can have straight shanks narrower than the drill diameter so that they can be fitted in chucks not able to chuck the full diameter. Such a drill bit is called a reduced-shank or blacksmith's drill. For example, this allows a bit to be used in a pistol-grip drill's chuck.
Down-the-hole drill the drill rods working with a relatively large diameter drill bit caused bore holes to deviate which sometimes meant that a bore hole might finish dangerously close to its neighbour or indeed be closer to the face of the quarry than had been intended. In any event boreholes that are not aligned correctly which are then loaded with high explosive can be extremely dangerous, resulting in rock being projected beyond the intended site. Larger quarries used big rotary machines that required huge amounts of down thrust and high rotation speeds to drive the tri-cone bit hard enough to crush the