Bill wrote:

: Thank you for your reply Pat. Barry's explanation explained how subtle
: things could go wrong. I definitely did not realize how many factors came
: into play. I may have to get by with my smoothing plane for a while...

You can joint an edge using a router in a router table, or a table
saw.

http://www.woodworkingtips.com/etips/2005/01/28/wb/

http://www.newwoodworker.com/tsjointjig.html

http://www.woodshopdemos.com/rtrplnr.htm

As far as I know you can't joint (flatten) a face without a jointer.
I think I understand why you can't flatten a face on a planer, but I
don't understand why they don't make planers that can also flatten a
face.

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(I'm very grateful to the experienced and knowledgable people in this
group who take the time to explain things to newbies like me.)

--- Chip