There are many ways to accomplish most tasks and everyone approaches things differently. You don't need a jointer or a planer anymore than you need any tool, but they sure are do make wwing easier and more accurate. A jointer is the best tool for making the face of a board flat, straight, and square to an adjacent edge. The jointer is the first step in my dimensioning process for rough sawn lumber....flatten a face, square an adjacent edge to the face, then plane the opposite face parallel to the flat face. There are work-arounds but no tool is more efficient at it than a jointer IMO. Regardless of how you accomplish it, a flat face is the main point of reference for all other surfaces, and without it, your joinery won't be as accurate. If you skip the flattening step, your edges won't necessarily be a perfect 90° to the face.
You can build a sled for your planer and flatten the face of boards using the sled's surface as the primary reference, and then do your edge jointing with a router or TS. You can also flatten with a handplane but it's a lot of work and takes time. Or you can also pay a supplier extra to flatten a face for you.
My shop and budget limited me to a 6" jointer...I wish I had an 8" but I get by with the 6".
You can build a sled for your planer and flatten the face of boards using the sled's surface as the primary reference, and then do your edge jointing with a router or TS. You can also flatten with a handplane but it's a lot of work and takes time. Or you can also pay a supplier extra to flatten a face for you.
My shop and budget limited me to a 6" jointer...I wish I had an 8" but I get by with the 6".
