William R. Watt ) writes:

... If the depth
to be removed is only 1/8" there will be no problem following a curved
line with a hand held circular saw set at that depth.

I should have recommended using a rip fence on the hand held circular saw.
Mine cost about $10 Canadian and has been very handy. I still mark the
line to be cut so I can see if I'm cutting correctly, but the rip fence
helps a lot to steady the hand. You can set it first to 3" and go around
the edge, then set it to 2" and go around again, then to 1" and score the
surface again. The three cuts should be enough of a guide to get a
consistent recess with the sander.

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