in reply to the crank polishing...
I am a dental technician and we spend half our days polishing things..
you can get some attachments for your hand drill, i think 3m makes some.
or you can use 400 grit sandpaper to start the smoothing.
make sure the sandpaper is a wet and dry and do this under a running tap. support the paper with a block.
once it is nice and even (bit a a task with cranks) use a felt polisher on your home drill.
it's not the polisher that does the polishing, its the polishing compound and heaps of pressure that makes it nice and shiney.
ask for a highly abrasive polish (rouge in new zealand) obvoiusly a red compound. put heaps of time into this step...
finish with a fine polish and a rag mop only lightly polish at this stage.
if you have a bench grinder this is ideal, the attachments are readily available (start slowly and watch yourself because stuff flies off easily and can hurt you badly...)
i have done this at work mainly, polished cranks, levers brakes, all nice aluminium parts (unlike the new stuff eh)