This is probably a dumb question - but if you start with standard size stock (say 3/4") and put it through a jointer and trim wood off to flatten it., you’re going to have something that’s not standard thickness. Isn’t that a problem?
In my amateur efforts (mainly DIY) I always count on wood being in 3/4" increments. Maybe more seasoned woodworkers, or more sophisticated projects, don’t need that?
A planer cuts on the face of the board to make it thinner. You would not use a planer to make a board flat since the bed is so short. A board of any significant length couldn’t be flattened in a planer.
A jointer, on the other hand, is used to flatten wood. It has a long bed so that the wood has a solid reference for as long as possible. Typically it’s used to flatten an edge so the sides of the boards can be tightly glued together. However, you can flatten the face board on a jointer if the bed is wide enough. But the problem there is that the whole board is usually warped, which means it’s curved on both sides. You can use a jointer to flatten one side, then a table saw to flatten the other. But you probably wouldn’t do that with wood as thin as 3/4". A more likely use is to flatten one side of a block of wood to be used as a table leg or something. Flatten one side in the jointer and then use a table saw to cut the other side to be parallel.
Yes, if you start with stock that is 3/4" and joint one face, it will end up thinner than 3/4". Normally you would then use a thickness planer to flatten the other face and make it parallel to the first face. The result is even thinner. So you have to take this into account when you buy your wood stock. If you need it to be exactly 3/4", then you buy wood that’s thicker than that, say 4/4. Exactly how much wood you lose by jointing and planing depends on how warped the wood was to start with. BTW, my woodworking took a major leap forward when I started jointing/planing my stock, since wood that you buy is almost never flat and true when you buy it. You have to make it that way.
Yep. Wood is never straight. If you need 3/4 boards, you start with 4/4 or even 5/4 and joint and plane it to size. Or if you don’t have a jointer and planer, you get your pal at the wood place to do it for you.
OP here. Thanks for the feedback BTW I keep telling my family that my projects will start coming out better as soon as they come up with a square tree. I hear they’re working on it day and night over at Weyerhauser.
Also note a primary purpose of a jointer is to clean up edges after rip cutting boards. When you cut the board on a table saw you cut a 16th over your finished size then take that 16th off with the jointer. Since you need jointer to be very precise, adjusting them all the time is a hassle.
A lot of shops end up with 2 jointers. One set to 1/8th to handle rough stock and the other set at 1/16th to do edges.
This sounds weird to me. I’ve never heard of doing it that way and I’ve never found it necessary to clean up rip cuts aside from light sanding. The way I was taught to do it was:
Use jointer to get one side flat. Then use the flat side with the jointer’s fence to get one edge flat.
Use thickness planer to get the other side parallel with the jointed side
Use table saw with rip fence to get the other edge parallel with the first edge
That should be all you need to do to get a perfectly square board. If your rip cuts on the table saw are that messy, you may need to replace your blade, or the arbor may be getting loose or something.
Blade precision is significantly better than in the past so it’s not always needed now. When I was taught 25 years ago it was a standard step for doing glue joints. I kinda prefer the slightly unclean edge and would glue it without sanding or jointing, but that’s a preference woodworkers debate on.
The cabinet shop I worked at 10 years ago wanted every edge finished with a jointer, then break the corners by hand with sand paper. They were exclusively cherry so I think they wanted it to ensure no burns would be left behind, as cherry is really easy to burn.
Here you go.
Looks like your original question has been answered and expanded upon so the only thing I can add is to make sure you read the manual. Power tools are inherently dangerous so safety is always your main concern.
Ah, yeah - might just be an old vs. new tool thing. Of course, cabinet shops can be notoriously anal about stuff that doesn’t really matter, as well. 
Funny this topic just came up… I just watched this video on YouTube last week. Very informative. I’ve been on a woodworking kick these past few months.
This. The only addition is some will tell you to take a light cut on the ripped edge to clean it up. If your jointer isn’t well set up though, this could result in the edges no longer being parallel
I like this guy. He does it exactly the way I said, so he must be an expert. 
This is really cool. I have a planer and now I see what I need to do next.
I got a bunch of cypress wood free at a fire sale in a lumber yard. The lumber yard had a major fire and most of the stock burned up. My friend and I each got a light pickup truck worth of charred lumber.
My wife thought I was absolutely nuts, but after running it through the planer then I’ve got good wood.