I know from experience that all of the above is correct but not the only way.
After experimenting I found that all we really need to do is close the pores on the finish.
Shine is obtain by the best reflection of light, less pores more shine more pores, well you guys get it. So how do we close the pores? There are various ways most expensive ones have been discussed above. I needed to come up with a more cheap way to polish my pens, From Nov to yesterday I made over 300 slim lines, maybe 400 pens in total and Micromesh is just to expensive.
I use different grits of regular sand paper wrapped in the worn micromesh sponge; 320, 600, 800, 1500, 3000 and 5000 last 2 are 3m sponges then I use a little blue magic or mothers to bring up the shine.
I also found the 3m gray course, medium fine, ultrafine, microfine superfine sponges at the automotive paint store work great but They don't bring them regularly to Puerto Rico.