> Without a lathe,and more than a little skill,there isn't much you can do. Because the stainless doesn't have a finish on it,you really have to be careful to keep whatever polishing media off the finish. A cue maker or good repairman will probably start with a piece of 600-1000,then work his way up to 2000,then use any of several different polishing/lapping compounds. Another method would be to use one of those 3 sided nail buffers,they can be bought in Wal-Mart over where the nail files and clippers are. They have a side that is 1/2 pink,1/2 white and the other side is gray. This is basically 2400,4000,and 12000 Micro-Mesh on a stick. Without a lathe,the safest thing you can do is get some Blue Magic metal polish,rub a little on a clean cotton rag,then polish the joint without letting the polish get on the finish. This will do a fairly effective but not permanent cleaning,and will turn the rag black from the carbon in the metal,which will never completely disappear. Tommy D.