I did use rotten stone in the past but found it made other work removing it from chequering action and trigger guard joints, 0000 Steel wool using canola oil as a lubricant for the first matting down. As a final treatment to give that fine luster I found that 0000 Steel wool with wax furniture polish polish to slow down the wool's cutting properties. In the latter years I did move over to Automobile paint cutting compounds because they did work quicker and you can choose how much of a mat finish you get in the end also it stays even no mater how hard you rub in places so no patchiness, though it had that problem of finding its way into the chequering and joints. Though Steel wool and oil is slower there is less cleaning up.
