Buy good chisels & use a wooden mallet. I turned a chunk of Red Oak
firewood into a mallet that is perfect in about 10 minutes. My chisels
are used, but they are a nice set of swedish ones that were passed
down. I keep a couple of small sets of Stanley & other cheap ones for
beater projects. You can't do decent woodworking without a good set of
chisels that are just for good work - in my opinion, anyway. - Jim