WENBench Mortiser, 5-Amp Cast Iron with Chisel Bit Set (43013)

Starting off, I like WEN tools. I have two sanders and am thoroughly satisfied with them. Well made and a decent price. I saw good and bad reviews for the mortiser and took a chance. I needed it for a woodworking project that needed square holes. It was easy to put together as it's mostly assembled when you take it out of the box. Wear gloves when you take it out of the box as it's covered in grease that you need to clean off. It's also very heavy for a benchtop tool at about 60 lbs (27.2 kg).Once assembled, I found that the fence was not square to the mortise. There doesn't seem to be a way to fix this. Turns out that this isn't really a problem as the square chisel that fits around the auger-bit just has to be aligned with the fence, no matter the angle. Squaring the chisel/auger-bit can be tricky as the instruction only say to align it with the marks you make on the wood. I found aligning the chisel with the fence made multiple cuts much easier.The hold down didn't quite work as I would have liked. It didn't efficiently hold the wood in place while mortising. I had to use a crafting stick (an oversized popsicle stick) between the hold down and the wood so it would stay in place. The wood still creeped around but I was able to work around that.I practiced on pine to make sure I got everything right and things went well. The pine was easy to cut, the holes were square and I switched to oak for my project. I was a little worried as some reviews said that going through oak was very difficult. I found it took a bit more force but the chisel and auger went through the oak very well. It only took a little bit more force than the pine and I was able to do eight 1"X1-1/2" holes reasonably quickly. All holes came out the same and the machine performed the same on each hole (no bogging down, no wood burning, no motor overheating and accuracy was good.)I did experience some blow out on my first hole as I used the experimental pine as a backer and I went through an experimental hole. The chisel and auger are aggressive so be sure to use a backer. The auger is very efficient at clearing wood shavings but you should probably still give it a hand and lift up out of the hole occasionally.NOTE: The instructions say to be very careful when installing or just being around the chisel/auger because it's very sharp. This is so true. Obviously you have the machine off when moving or adding wood and you may have to reach under the chisel/auger when doing that. If you lightly brush your hand or finger against it, you will bleed. I was being extremely careful and I got several cuts on the back of one hand when adjusting wood. Totally my fault, just giving you a heads-up.Overall, I think this a good value for the money. The machine is well put together (except for the misaligned fence,) it operates as expected and the results are what you want. Not sure how it would go in the long run but I'm a hobby woodworker and I would expect it to last a while.

i’ve purchased wen products in past in fact i own wood lathe, scroll saw , drill press , jointer and have been very pleased so far. my expectations are that I’ll have same experience with this mortiser . First thing i noticed is it has some weight to it . Everything was packed good and arrived safe no damage to box with that said there was some kind of damage to motor fin. Deep gouges and chipped paint looks like something was clamped on to it . Not bad enough to consider returning. It needed some minor assembly wasn't difficult it has good instructions. Checked to make sure everything operated correctly the motor had a little metal on metal sound but possibly just needs broke in it ran fine turned on & off several times let motor run for a little bit. Did some test mortises seems to operate as you’d expect. Didn't use on any projects yet so if i run into any issues in future I’ll update review . I did do a little more testing because of reviews i read . I have seen no issues as of yet. so far i am happy with purchase .and lastly i read negative reviews on the bits that was included and on testing they worked fine for me. Good hobby wood working tool .

I made less than 50 plunge cuts before the handle assembly slipped inside the cog! It was working wonderfully and I was peased with it...then it just snapped. Very disappointing. The process to return it is rediculous and I settled for getting half my money back and just keeping it. It'll make a good boat anchor. I really should have known better. The WEN drill press I have is equally disappointing. Seriously a waste of time and money.

While I'm in no position to compare this with other mortising machines -- this is the first I've owned -- I can nonetheless report that I'm extremely happy with this Wen mortiser after using it several times. It's rugged; it's plenty powerful; and it's accurate.The mortiser arrived well packaged in an undamaged box. Setup was straightforward with no missing or damaged parts ... though I did it helpful that I had already watched several Youtube videos on setting up and dialing in mortising machines.Once the machine was set up, I practiced for a while using pine and then oak. And then I put the machine to work, cutting a series of through mortises into 2 x 2 quartersawn red oak legs for a piece of mission I' building. They came out crisp and accurate.A couple of observations: First, you'll want to take your time cutting mortises through thick hardwood. Second, you'll want to bolt this machine down to a work bench; pulling on that lever requires a fair amount of force and you don't want one of these heavy machines sliding toward you as you pull! Finally, while the hold down works as its supposed to, you'll also want to use a pair of c-clamps to hold your stock hard and secure against the fence.So time will tell as to this mortiser's durabiity ... and I suspect I will be ordering a new set of drill bits as the supplied ones probably aren't of the highest quality. But given the price of other mortisers -- and given that this one works as intended -- I'm very happy with this purchase.