If I may respectifully disagree...
One can get quite aggressive when it comes to restoring Bakelite back to it's original luster. Disclaimer: I am not, nor claim to be an expert in Phenolic Resins (Bakelite), and can only express my own experiences in the restoration of Bakelite and plastics in general.
Bakelite can be sanded. Yes, sanded to remove scratches and gouges. Obviously, when gouges/scratches are so deep that sanding the area smooth and level would distort the shape of the object - one needs to consider whether that part can be restored or replaced.
I have used as low a grit as 150 sandpaper to remove damaged material and to start the refinish process, continuing with ever-finer grits, carefully cleaning the object between grits. (If you don't clean the project - remaining dust containing loose grit from the sandpaper will scratch the surface you are attempting to smooth with the finer grit).
Typically, I work from 200 grit, to 400 grit then start wet-sanding with 400, 600, 1200. At this point one may choose to hand polish the object using any number of products such as Flitz, Maas, or anything suitable for fine household polishing such as silverware etc.
However, after my last pass with the finest grit wet-sanding, I polish the material on a bench grinder set-up with a wheel and rouge specifically made for "plastic" polishing. You can achieve the similar results without the buffing wheel - but it is tiresome and time consuming. After the wheel treatment, I then polish by hand just to give it that hand polished feel.
I, (personal opinion) would rather the Bakelite shine with it's own polished luster than to coat it with a wax or for that matter any "coating". To me, the wax is a layer that will discolor, wear away, etc., and who's to know what "reactions" with the Bakelite are taking place chemically.
Unfortunately, I don't have any photographs of vacuum parts other than a suction end hose coupling from an Electrolux Model XII to show my polishing results, but I do have a couple of telephone restorations showing the results of my efforts.
The first is a Thermoplastic WE302 with a Bakelite F1 handset. I did use the same technics on the thermoplastic base too. But one must use extra caution with other plastics - they are NOT as forgiving as Bakelite.
1st. "before" photo - one can see how rough and discolored the Bakelite has become:
