Riaan
DON'T DO IT, I hear ye all!
On the contrary. That's how I learned - a lot of reading and a lot of doing.
Dressing is a tricky proceedure - lots of little do's and don'ts which all make a big difference (like don't forget to slack your trussrod completely and give it 24 hours for the neck to settle before levelling and the same after tensioning up before touchups). It's not undoable if you're handy though - just do your homework first.
If your fret edges are rough, but the action is low enough, you just need to touch up your fret edges, which is relatively easy. Care must be taken to avoid damaging the finish or you must be prepared to touch up. I like using a second cut file with the ends cut off to make sure it is perfectly flat, running it along the edges of all the frets together (not one by one) at an angle. Do this until you start biting into the edges of the fingerboard. This gives you a smoother, angled edge to the fingerboard which is more comfortable to play on - something like rolled edges. Just make sure that the angle is not too flat, or you reduce the playing area and strings will tend to slip off the edges of the board. I then do the same with a fine file - just a few strokes to smooth the edges a little.
Then I use a small flat key file or watchmaker's file to round off the edges of every single fret, one by one. I then do a few passes at an angle with a rubber sanding block with 400, 600, 800 and 1000 wet or dry paper. The nice thing about using rubber is it tends to wrap around the edges a little, smoothing them and reducing sharp angles. At all stages, run your hand up and down the edges of the neck and make sure that it is smooth enough to feel.
