Ninja: Although I like the "rustic" finish on the steel, I wish it were less drastic. That is, it's caused by too much oxygen and heat. I'm working with an open coal forge, which can get REALLY hot and allows a lot of oxygen to contact the metal. I screwed up a bit on these two and got them a tad too hot. Also, I didn't brush the scaling off as I normalized the blades. Lesson learned, I guess. I'm learning how to better control the heat on my forge, but I just spaced off on this pair.
All in all, I like the look, but NOT the effect on the steel. I guess the bright side is, the knives are short and won't be subjected to much abuse.