I agree with Josh. The blade warped in HT (which is pretty normal), and Brad fixed it by spot heating using a torch. Those round marks may well still show in the steel after you finish the blade. You could call Brad and request he anneal and re-do the HT without using a torch to straighten the warps, or send it to another HTer (like JT) and have them anneal the blade and do the HT right.
Sadly, many folks have stopped using Peters over the torch marks on the blades.
If you want to finish it as-is, then make a simple jig from some angle iron and clamp it with shims reversing the warp by an equal amount in the reverse direction. Place in tghe oven for two hours at 400°F. When you take it out, wearing hot gloves, remove it from the jig quickly and hand straighten any additional amount. Don't straighten below 200°F. If you need more straightening, place it back in the oven for 30 minutes. You can repeat the hand straightening and re-heating as many times as needed.
TIP:
The easiest way to straighten warps and twists on long blades and swords is to make a straightening board and bending tool. These are ancient Japanese tools for straightening blades. I forget the name of them in Japanese. They are used to straighten hot blades right out of the quench, or warm blades after tempering. You can also work a small warp on a cold blade, but that is always a risk. The trick on getting warp out of a hardened blade is to do it at 400°F and stop at 200°F. Reheat the blade as often as needed. You can sopt heat a blade by gently heating with a torch over the whole area to around 400°F. This works great for tangs that need a little adjusting.
HOT= 1000°-400°F; WARM = 400°-200°F; COLD = room temperature
The board is a 2" thick piece of hardwood about 6"X12". Cut three slots down the side about 4" apart. Make the slots 1/4", 1/2", and 1" wide. The slots should go 3" deep into the board. These slots will be used as the fulcrum point for bending the blade in straightening. The hand tool is a wooden slat about 1" thick by 4" wide by 24" long. About 4" from one end make a 1/2" wide slot in the side 2" deep (like the straightening board). On the other side about 6" from the end make a 1/4" wide slot 2" deep. The hand tool is used to apply pressure to a spot along the blade in bending/twisting. Shape the rest of the long slat past the slot sort of like a small canoe paddle to male gripping it easier.
How to use these tools - Clamp the board in the vise with the slots above the jaws. Immediately after the quench you can stick the hot blade in the straightening board slot (pick the slot size that seems best for the warp and blade size) and bend it straight. You have a pretty good window of time that the blade is still austenite and very soft to do this. If the warp is localized. place the blade in the board and use the hand tool to straighten without affecting other areas. After a temper cycle, you can further straighten a blade. Repeat with extra temper cycles as needed until it is straight. 30 minutes is plenty long enough for the blade to re-heat for another straightening try. For twists, place the blade in the smallest slot and use the smaller slot on the hand tool to counter-twist the blade as needed. Twist is easiest removed right after the quench. These tools won't suck the heat out of the blade and promote a broken blade the way a cold metal vise will.
