Customer Reviews for WEN 5 Amp Cast Iron Bench Mortiser with Chisel Bit Set

Put it right to work! I'm building an "L" shaped set of bunk beds for my grandchildren. The bed has 9 legs all of which have two or three mortises. Bill

My first mortises were a raging success!! I only needed to cut eight 1/2" wide mortises about 3" long and 3" deep and it handled the job perfectly. I do not try to push tools beyond their means and I never have (I take care of my tools). I'm not sure how the tool would stand up to really cranking down on the handle and using more force that required but it cut well in my maple table legs. Do your research on proper use of this tool AND proper height differences of the bit and chisel and you should be fine. My only complaint is the legs I was cutting into were 5" x 5" and I needed to remove the included wood bed to allow enough clearance for the chisel but that is absolutely no fault of the tool. I set up some crude stop blocks to get consistent cuts in each legs and it worked well.

The WEN Bench Mortiser is very good quality for the price of the product and does a great job for cutting the mortise in Hard Maple wood. The unit is weak when trying to set the mortise depth and maintaining that depth. The depth set collar is locked into position by a bolt with a knob that even when tighten very tight will allow the depth set collar to move down. I cut a piece of wood to maintain my mortise depth. The other issue there is no measuring scale anywhere to help set the depth.

Everything I ordered came and everything worked like it supposed to.

I am dazzled by the quality and operation of this machine for the price. Set up in minutes and went right to building mortise and tenon face frames. Could not be happier

Works really well for what I needed .can't beat it for the price

Started smoking the first time I started it up.

Needs a better stop for depth. I had to mark bit to watch I didn’t go to deep

This review is based off of the market this was designed for. This machine does not compare to the professional machines designed for that particular market. Overall it performs as expected. Good weight ratio and heavy duty components. Power is adequate for what it was designed for. Star rating was chosen as follows: minus one due to the fact I cannot find better quality mortising bits or replacement bits for it. The ones it comes with are not square. The drill bit tip “circle” extrudes from the square bit so you will not get a perfect square. Not an issue if your tenon joint has a shoulder but will be noticeable if doing decorative thru tenons. If you could find better aftermarket bits that fit that size boss then they could’ve kept that star. Minus one more star for not being able to square up the bit to the project without taking a long time. I know it’s not designed for assembly line work but there’s no way to get a true squareness. Again, not an issue with shoulders that hide most imperfections. The base plate ledge is also too high. You will need spacers under your project in order to have the hold down forks work properly when cutting thinner materials. That in turn compromises the squareness of the project. Now if your ingenuitive there are ways around it but this review isn’t based off of the user’s abilities. For as many times that I’m going to use this tool (3-4 per year give or take) it was a good purchase. I can work around the base plate deal. But replacement bits I cannot.

Worked great for the money

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

The mortise machine was easy to set up and it die a nice job cutting hard maple. You will need to check measurements often to make sure they’re no movement in the material. Reasonable price for a decent Mortiser.

It is okay, but probably should've looked around longer. The bits aren't that great, so maybe why I'm not so impressed. The bits like to pull out of the chuck or get clogged and bind. The clamp doesn't hold as well as I would like. The machine was easy to assemble and use once set up (minus) the bit problem. Seems like with more work and tweaks, I might get the machine I want. Recommend with reservations.

It's heavier than I expected. I'm sure it will perform well for my limited needs. Much better than using a chisel.

Being too heavy, the base should have been bigger. Still adjusting to the lever positioning.

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

Very nice.

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

is good for medium and small parts

Rating provided by a verified purchaser

The Mortising machine was super easy to assemble and use.