Simple Man Products Spyder 2-in-1 Bore-Blade Review

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Model:
Price: $15.97
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We
applaud inventive ideas and progress and it is fun when we see new
things. It is just that good ideas don’t always make for a great
product. Take the case of the Spyder Products 2-in-1 Bore-Blade: it
might have been better left as an idea, since we did not have good
success with them on our simple project. For most professionals, when
cutting wood, we use a wood blade. When cutting metal, we use a metal
blade. And if we are doing plunge cuts, there are specific blades
available that do an excellent job at that as well. When you start
combining too many different features into one product, this is where
things can get tricky because something is going to suffer. We were
excited to give the new Spyder Bore-Blade a try to see if it could do
all that the company claimed.

The Bore-blades are
designed to fit into any reciprocating saw and are available in 6″,
8″ and 10″ lengths. All blade lengths are available with three
different TPI configurations on the top and bottom of the blade. You can typically find them in 3-packs at Lowe’s and other retailers.

• 7
  TPI (top)/ 7 TPI (bottom) – Wood Blade
• 0
  TPI (top)/7 TPI (bottom) – General Purpose/Wood Blade
• 14
  TPI (top)/10 TPI (bottom) – Metal/General Purpose Blade

The
intention of the double-edge blade is that it is supposed to allow
multi-directional cuts without flipping your saw over or taking the
blade out. The rounded tip with teeth is intended to make plunge cuts
easier by eliminating the need for pilot holes.

Testing
and Use

For
our multiple screen door installation project we chose the
Metal/General Purpose Blade that has 14 TPI on the top with 10 TPI
on the bottom edge. On the first door we had to cut the new aluminum
storm door frame to fit the existing entry door frame. To do this we
needed to trim approximately 2 inches of material off each of the
side frames. Since the Spyder blade had 14 TPI on the back side, we
figured this would be an appropriate use for the blade. With the
blade loaded into a cordless 12V Milwaukee Hackzall mini
reciprocating saw, we commenced cutting the aluminum frame material.
Actually it was more like we tried cutting the materials. We
quickly caught on to one of the inherent problems with putting teeth
on the back of an aggressively angled blade. When cutting with a
reciprocating blade in the correct direction, the teeth of the blade
are always pulling the material towards the shoe of the saw. This is
accomplished by the rake angle of the blade in relation to the saw’s
shoe or base. What we observed when trying to cut through the metal
with the fine teeth on the back side of the saw blade is that there
was never that natural drawing of the material towards the shoe. Even
when we applied extra pressure to the tool and the blade, it would
never “bite” quite right and allow us to complete the cut.
Ultimately we just swapped out the Bore-Blade for a standard metal
blade and did the cuts in no time.

Difficult
to plunge cut

Our second test of the
Spyder Products 2-in1 Bore-Blade was to plunge cut though a piece of
1x pine material to help make a door frame larger so that we could
properly install our second storm door. We did the majority of the
cuts with a circular saw set to the proper depth, but we needed to
complete the cuts into the corners with the reciprocating saw blade.
What we found was that, when we used this blade in a Ridgid 18V
Cordless reciprocating saw, is that it did a marginal job of removing
material in a plunge cut scenario. When we examined the top of the
saw blade, it actually had almost a 1/4″ long section where
there were no teeth and, to us, it appeared that the teeth are not
aggressive enough to really remove material. Again, we found
ourselves having to swap out to a dedicated wood reciprocating saw
blade that actually had a tip that would dig right into the wood. The
large blade tip on the Bore-Blade seems counter-productive when
compared to a blade with a finer tip and aggressive teeth that tear
into the wood.

Conclusion

The
Spyder Products 2-in-1 Bore-Blade might be a reasonable blade for the
very occasional user, but we would suggest pros and even casual
do-it-yourself folks to just buy the right type of blades for the
project they are working on. While the Bore-Blade is not a bad idea,
we think that it needs some refinement before it can be considered
effective at more than just providing straight cuts in wood.

Specs

• Made from 1.23mm thick bi-metal steel
• Rounded tip with teeth allows plunge cuts
• Universal blade fits all reciprocating saws
• Available in 6″, 8″ and 10″ lengths