You can do this with a good sander, it is much easier, and you can buy it for low prices on Amazon now. I learned about it while reading an awesome article
here. I think that every guy should have every tool that he might need and sanders are almost something that everyone should have in their house. It makes the job so much easier and you are much more precise when using it. If you haven't used a sander before then you should train a little bit. It is not that hard to learn how to use it, I managed to learn everything in a few hours.