The beauty of ebonite is def in the eye of the beholder! I personally am not a fan of 'raw' colored ebonite but I use black ebonite as a basis for lacquer finishes. I turn it on the metal lathe using carbide, and tool marks are a problem. It takes aggressive sanding in my experience (I use wet Abranet (120 up to at least 600, higher if I have it) and then the full run of micromesh pads (also wet). Since I cover with lacquer, that's as far as I go, but if I'm just shining it up I would use Novus 1,2,3 and then buffing wheel.