Post quench appearance...any clues as to hamon formation?

[PIndelicato]

I'm just starting to delve into the world of clay coating and hamon fun! I'm wondering if the appearance of the blades post-quench gives any indication of success or failure of hamon formation, and if it allows any conclusions to be drawn at this stage. Or, is the appearance at this point meaningless and do you have to clean up and etch to know what lies beneath?

For example, here are 2 clay coated blades that I quenched and tempered yesterday. Can I draw any conclusions at this point based on their appearance as to was to what, if anything, may have formed? (I did a minimal "quick and dirty" clean-up on one side of the shorter blade, but wasn't really able to draw any conclusions from that exercise.)

Thanks for any wisdom anyone is willing to impart!

 

[Karl B. Andersen]

No reason to etch.
Couple quick passes on a NEW 120 belt will tell you everything you need to know.
Then temper.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I give it a 120 grit pass and a dunk into the FC. That tells me enough to know if I need to re-do the HT or not.

 

[PIndelicato]

I had thought about doing a quick pass on the grinder but wasn't sure how 'safe' that would be with an untempered blade; I'll be sure and do that next time. So can anything at all be determined by looking at them in their as-quenched state, or is their appearance meaningless at that point?

Thanks for the input!