Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Chadwick View Post
. . . how do you achieve the equivalent of 120 years of rubbing in, say, half an hour?
With a moderately-fine steel wire-wheel on a bench grinder.

Proceed judiciously on just the "high spots" at first (the areas where you would expect most handling wear), then continue to the more protected areas until the desired tone and gradation is achieved.

Lacking power tools, some time spent with hand-held 1500-grit abrasive paper/cloth can do the job if you're patient.