I'm in the midst of my first restoration project. I had thought about going all out and getting the buffing set up, compounds, etc. BUT, I just opted for good ol' sandpaper, and I would tell anybody thinking about starting out it's quite impressive what you can accomplish with just some elbow grease as opposed to greaseless compounds (rather relaxing too!). If you do it right, by the time you hit 2000 to 2500 grit, the blade is shining like a mirror after some Mothers polish.

I'm getting amped and prepared for scales next, and I think I might take a similar approach with minimal tools and patience.

Glad OP wasn't hurt!