Frugal and Energy Efficient Living

Nevr Dull is your best bet for cleaning and polishing most non ferrous metals at home and it works quite well on brass.

http://www.amazon.com/Basch-Never-Dull-Metal-Polish/dp/B0014IGAWO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1393120087&sr=8-5&keywords=nevr-dull

We used a machine like this for metal polishing but that's well beyond what a novice would be safe doing, you can lose a finger or destroy your piece before you can blink if you screw up. If the Nevr Dull doesn't do the job and the piece is something of value to you then have it professionally polished with a machine. That *will* smooth the surface and make it mirror-like (assuming the piece isn't already so thin there is very little left).



If you have a bench grinder you can buy small versions of the cloth wheels above and some Tripoli and Rouge (rough and fine polishing compounds respectively).

Here is a primer on mechanical metal polishing.

http://www.caswellplating.com/buffman.htm