"George" wrote in
:

I teach it every year when new kids come in. Simply sighting the
board is usually enough to flag high spots for the first pass. If
only there were some way to do the job without having to retract the
guard manually!

Well, there is the good ol' jack plane. I'll often take a few
swipes with a hand plane to get an obstinately shaped board
ready for power-jointing.

John