david weaver
...but the coffin smoother.

I didn't have any real problems with the Dai, other than that I chose QS maple, which is more chippy than what I'm used to working. I am still using that dai, though, It's OK.

The bits I want to get right are both the functionality and the aesthetics of the coffin smoother, getting a visually tight fit everywhere, with good design and proportions and good crisp lines around all of the carved/chiseled bits.

I think I could probably make a great performing plane in a maximum of two tries. The aesthetics put the brakes on the process on the first two (plus I was wanting to get a shot at layout and removal of the waste in the mortise with a chisel (which is how I did the dai, but the mortise is much shallower and wider, it wasn't an issue there). Any chipping I had around the mouth would've been solved by either ignoring it or adding an insert, but I wasn't too happy with how things looked inside the cheeks.