Bosch Daredevil Spade Bit Set Review
The threaded tip is the whole product. It pulls the bit through framing timber fast — and that is exactly what makes it awkward in a hand drill.
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A traditional spade bit is a flat paddle with a centre spur. It cuts by being pushed, which means the person holding the drill supplies the feed pressure for every hole. Bore twenty holes through joists above your head and you feel every one of them.
The Daredevil replaces the plain spur with a full-cone threaded tip. The thread bites into the timber and screws the bit forward, so the tool feeds itself and you are mostly steering. Bosch’s contoured paddle also clears chips out of the hole rather than packing them, which is the other half of why it stays fast in deep holes.
The 13-piece set comes in a roll-up pouch, and the shank is a 1/4 in hex with a power groove — it locks into an impact driver’s collet as happily as it sits in a drill chuck. That matters more than it sounds: an impact driver is usually what is already on your belt when a hole needs boring.
The catch is the same as the feature
A self-feeding bit does not stop feeding when you want it to. If the thread bites in dense hardwood, or the spur catches a nail, the bit stops and the drill keeps turning — which means the drill body turns instead. In a big 18 V drill that is a wrist injury waiting to happen. Use the side handle, and if your drill has a clutch, use that too.
The second limitation is finish. Spade bits leave a torn, splintered exit hole. You can control it by clamping a sacrificial board behind the work, or by drilling until the tip breaks through and finishing from the other side, but there is no version of this bit that gives a clean hole in visible work. That is what a Forstner or an auger is for.
What they are worth
Treat them as consumables. The spurs dull, the thread eventually rounds, and hand-sharpening a spade bit is a fiddly job most people do once before deciding a replacement bit costs less than the time. Bought as a 13-piece set, the cost per hole is low enough that this is a reasonable way to think about it.
What works
- The full-cone threaded tip self-feeds, so the bit pulls itself through softwood instead of relying on you to lean on the drill — a real difference when you are boring holes overhead through joists
- The 1/4 in hex shank with a power groove seats in an impact driver as well as a drill chuck, so one set covers both tools
- Thirteen sizes in a roll-up pouch covers the usual plumbing and electrical hole sizes without buying singles
What doesn't
- Self-feeding means the bit grabs: in a powerful drill with no clutch, a bit that bites in hardwood or hits a nail can wrench the tool out of your hands, so a side handle is not optional
- They tear out badly on the exit side unless you back the workpiece or drill from both faces, so they are a framing bit, not a furniture bit
- Spade bits are a consumable — sharpening the spurs by hand is possible but fiddly, and most people just replace them