Fewer finishing techniques are more valued for their beauty than what's called a "hand rubbed" satin finish. The term satin just refers to a polished finish that still has striation patterns in it that keep it from being a high polish. By hand polishing the blade using an abrasive, not only does one even out the bevels to be perfectly smooth, but this technique leaves nice striations in the blade as well.
Here's a Protech Brend 3 I customized a little while back, but recently I touched up the original bead blast finish by hand applying a satin using 220 grit abrasive and scotchbrite pads. The process is time consuming and requires quite a bit of concentration to get the striations going parallel. That said, I think you can see the results are quite attractive, especially when paired with my custom drill work.
If you would like your blade hand rubbed, feel free to contact me. I charge 30$ for the service due to the time involved, and I can satin finish almost any blade style. Satin finishing can also take out small scratches in the blade that may have been caused by use.
