after heat treatment, the knife looks crusty with oil and has adopted a disgustingly uneven black color. I have gone back to the grinder to keep chipping away at cleaning up the blade. This time around, however, what I create is what my knife blade will look like. I placed it on the grinder and used my moderate gritted grinding belt to scratch off all the black spots and scratches. I am using this in conjunction with the buffing wheel attached to the verticalmill.