DIABLO 1 in. x 6 in. SPEEDemon Spade Bit

Very strong and worked great! Went through some very solid wood. Great product!

For what it is, it is very strong and very well manufactured, but the design itself is what I dislike. Personally, I had difficulty controlling it, was unable to do precise work with it. The screw tip, specifically, sucks the spade bit into the wood very quickly, and one or both of the following things will happen: the drill will stall because the bit is stuck in the wood and the resistance is too high (I use a Milwaukee battery-powered drill) and/or chips of wood are flying all over the place and you have no idea what’s going on. It probably works great if certain conditions are true, like (a) the new hole will be far away from edges and other holes, (b) it is possible to freely position your body (c) you have a more powerful drill. But, for myself, I actually prefer traditional spade bits. Again, the problem for me is the design, not the quality. If Diablo made traditional spade bits (I didn’t check if these exist), I’m sure they would be the best ones on the market.

I purchased this spade bit because I needed to make a hole under a bathroom cabinet, about 1 inch thick wood. It eventually did the job but it stopped short a few times & I had to back it out & restart about 4 times, but it eventually got the job done. So I would have to say this bit is just average, not great, not bad, just depends on the need. I should mention I was using a plug in type electric drill that has more power than a standard battery operated drill, I don’t think a drill with less power would get the job done with this bit.

Attached and drilled.

Extremely sharp and very effective.