Here is my "hone":
It's a large dowel with some thin foam attached at the end. I wrap 400 grit paper around it, squirt it with some WD-40 and go at it. I've cleaned up several chromed cylinders and a non-chromed 42cc Poulan. Two of those chromed engines met unfortunate ends for other reasons so I can't say how they held up. The other chromed one I only sanded lightly and it is fine.
The bare aluminum Poulan I took a fair amount of material off to remove a scratch that was just at about the point where you could feel it. That engine is holding up really well. I have about 7 tanks on it now, and I keep peeking through the spark plug hole to see how it is doing, and it looks great. Runs well too.
Given how fast I was able to remove material on the bare bore I would not want to try a powered ball hone.