Like sand and boiling hot water for scouring the musket and brick dust for polish? It works well, just needs a lot of elbow grease to keep the metal bright.
Heh... I ran a professional metal refinishing shop. We used a 120 grit emory belt to rough a piece, followed by a dry 320, then a "grease" 320 (actual grease used, interspersed with diesel fuel to keep it "wet). Then a sizel buff, and possibly a color-buff.

Might omit early stages if there wasn't that much damage to deal with (or for fragile stuff). But at LEAST a grease belt to start. And I was able to a damn-near optical finish.

Of course now, you don't want me to see the chrome you've had redone on your Harley: most shops do NOT do the necessary pre-polishing anymore...