I gave up trying to chop mortises with a Marples sash mortise chisel (purchased for $2 on eBay when Record tools was liquidated) and ordered a Ray Isles pigsticker from Joel.
5 years ago when I started woodworking, it was to SAVE money by DIY remodeling. Anyone who knew me then as the Cheapest Man Alive would have found the idea of my spending the better part of a c-note on one of the simplest hand tools in the world inconceivable.
I suspect family members are plotting an intervention.