Need advice on polishing brass items [View all]

I have a bunch of smallish (under 8" tall) brass (and some other metals) statuettes that have been in storage for years. Most are just slightly tarnished but a few have some green and white corrosion. None are valuable, most were found at thrift shops or discount places.

I need advice on cleaning them up. I looked online and found three routes to polishing them.

First - Bar Keep's Friend, liquid version. The woman in the video I saw said was really easy to do using a soft cloth and it did look easy but I am not sure if she edited the video to cut out the hard parts.

Second - white vinegar, salt and aluminum foil. The acidity of the vinegar with salt allows some sort of electrolysis action with the foil. I tried that out tonight since I had those in the house. It worked, but it took a lot of scrubbing to get the black coating that the process leaves. My hands can't take that. In fact by the time I got to the fourth little horse I tested it on, I just couldn't finish so it's still a little tarnished. It did get the corrosion off.

Third - Dremel polishing pads with a polishing compound. I have a Dremel with some polishing pads but no polishing compound. I was real tempted to try the pads on the horse that I couldn't finish without using a polishing compound but was too tired to deal with it. None of the local stores carry the recommended polishing compound and I have on hold an Amazon order with polishing compound and a set of various sized and shaped polishing pads - my Dremel set only has flat, round ones. I'd have to invest about $25 to get both things.

I have maybe a couple of dozen brass horses, then some iron ones with minor rust and corrosion, so the Dremel is very tempting since it won't wear my hands out as much as hand polishing. Plus a couple are mounted on wooden bases so could not be dunked in the vinegar bath method and I am not sure I'd want to expose them to the Bar Keep's Friend.

Any other suggestions?