Burnishing, whether burnishing metal or wood or whatever, is rubbing with considerable force with a very smooth harder object, in order to compress and smoothen the surface. Burnishing with antler on wood will compress the surface fibers of the wood, close pores to some degree, and slicken the surface. Done improperly, with too much force, or using the tip too agressively, will cause ripples in the surface. On curly maple, burnishing does almost always ripple the surface a little bit. That's commonly seen on old originals. Burnishing takes practice and should not be done before the stock is stained and sealed as it can limit the penetration of stain and sealer.
For practice, you can scrape a tomahawk or axe or hammer handle with a piece of broken glass, etc, and then follow with a good antler rubdown. Soon the handle will shine again and slide through the hand like it should.
