Polish and refinement are related to cuts but it's more subtle. Nuance and muscle maturity borne of years of work refining mass that has already been acquired. Schwarzenegger was essentially the same size through the first half of the 70s, in subsequent contests he mainly focused on carving that diamond. A big difference between good and great is addressing the details.
Ferrigno never got to that. He was still in the mass building stage and should've gone further there and didn't due to the divergence to football then the hulk. Which means that of course he never got to refinement either.
In part what's required is the intelligence to assess oneself objectively then to go about increasing quality and making enhancements re: balance, symmetry and aesthetics, muscle tie-ins. Ferrigno missed all of those: lack of thigh sweep, mediocre calves, lack of biceps peak, average tris, etc. Ferrigno didn't have that intinct and drive for greatness, or the persistence to stay in the game long enough o address his weaknesses while he was at his physical peak in the 70s. Essentially he quit very early, well before his potential peak.
Ferrigno was actually bigger than Schwarzenegger in absolute terms. I was backstage at the 76 Universe, and Ferrigno was a refrigerator, Arnold alot more svelte in person though of course he was also only 210 at that point, prior to gaining some weight back for movies.
What i'm referring to and you should already know by now is something that confuses a surprising number of BB followers-relative size AKA muscle volume AKA measurements relative to frame and bone width. Ferrigno didn't have anywhere near the same volume AKA meat on the frame.
You can see here that his upper body is on the slim side vis-a-vis his legs and in relation to Schwarzenegger. And it wasn't just 10 lb. Different shows but the point is made vividly.