Face Planning

You can attach boards (runners) on each side of your piece and run it through the planer. SH

You'll have to take the guard off if you want to attempt it with the board in one piece.

2) Don't try for perfection, your goal is to get one face flat enought (maybe marginally) to allow it to be down-side when you run it through the surface planer. You might actually have some unplaned surface when you reach the point where you can go to the surface planer.

Trick is set your fence so there will be a small amout of overlap - about

If you find yourself eating away too much of the board on the jointer, chances are it was to warped to start with.

As far as operation with the guard off, a lot of paranoia will get you through this. Actually with the wider board the entire table is covered. Just use your push blocks and be aware of where the knives and your pinkies are. Also, with the minimal cutting depth, there is less tendency for a push-back. Paranoia!

SNIP

And, of course, you can make it without a dangerously clenched sphincter by using hand planes and winding sticks. Consult any traditional woodworking text for method and pictures.

Are they used to push the wood safely through the jointer?

I think so.. but I don't know what you do with the winding stick..

BTW - if your board is in reasonably good shape (ie. not much warp) you might try surfacing one side in your planer instead of the jointer. Again, you want to take very small bites. If you have a trusted flat surface (floor, benchtop, etc) check against it by laying the planed surface face down.

Maybe that is for jointing a dowel?

winding sticks are for judging the twist in a board. just a couple of straight sticks a foot or two long. balance one on each end of a board and sight 'em. then use the jointer or a scrub plane or whatever to take the high points.