Just to speak to the handle length idea, I would say that the shorter the overall chisel is, the better. The fellow who taught me TF had an old framing chisel that he put the shortest possible handle on, which was a ferrule barely above the socket, and I remember it was a very useful tool. The longer the chisel gets, the more awkward it is in use. That being said, I would rather hold wood than steel so i make a handle just long enough to "keep my hand warm"
This advice goes out the window if you are getting a chisel ready for deep work, in that case you may need to grind the socket out of the way and also plane the handle a bit so that the plane of the back of the chisel can be extended as long as possible....