Yeah, It's not rocket science. I've played around with it in my shop on some metal projects but never been motivated to do it with a firearm. Generally not that interested in doing it on anything I own.
I think Brownells does/used to sell the polishing tools although it's not that hard to improvise one. I used a steel pin with the end polished and some coarse lapping compound. But I was doing a flat project. I've hear of steel brushes, wood dowels with sandpaper, bolts with steel wool, etc. Use a drill press and improvise a jig that will allow for repeatable overlapping of the polishing marks. Experiment to see what you like. Just clamp the rod/tool in the drill press, put some compound on the tip and lower it onto the work until you get a circular polish, then move your jig one increment and do it again, once the row is done go to the next row. Go slow and do it over, and over, and over, and. . . BORING! And time consuming. The smaller the swirls, the more intricat e the detail, and the longer it takes. I can see why gunsmiths try to avoid it. Huge PITA.