I hope your back continues to improve, Paul, and that's a result with the stand-in. Hope it works out.
Re that cylinder.....yep, give it a light polishing as you mentioned with the Solvol. Never forget that, in the dark, distant past (


), some exponents of spring gun tuning actually tried to achieve a cross-hatched, slightly roughened, finish to hold lube (a) for lubrication and, (b) to give a source of fuel to promote controlled dieselling. Long behind us now.
I'd try and polish as best you can and then, if you don't have any already, buff some moly powder, moly paste or moly from a spray into the cylinder surface. Then buff it again. Then the tiniest of smears of moly paste onto the edge of the piston seal, any acetal rings and the rear bearing portion of the piston. And then, as previously mentioned, once the piston is inserted and pushed fully forwards, a helping of moly grease around the circumference of the cylinder, behind the piston. Should help with smoothness and to ward off, hopefully, any future wear.