Weird effect on knife after etching...

[Chiro75]

No pics yet, but I made a small knife yesterday (about 2 hours from start to tempering! Much better than my old way!) and after etching it I noticed a weird effect. In addition to the regular temper line, there is this really thin, ghosty line that runs about .5mm away from the spine and along the front o fthe knife to the point (it's a wharncliffe). It looks more or less the same on both sides. I'm wondering if I overheated the steel in these areas and they have a different temper or something? I clay treated the blade and quenched in oil, then immediately tempered at 380°. This is 1084 steel. I sort of rushed the finish because I wanted to see how it turned out, so I'm going to go back over that and re-etch it, and a pic will say a thousand words so I'll try to add one today. Any ideas?

 

[AwP]

Etching and sanding don't show temper the way they show hardening. I'm guessing it might be alloy banding or carbide formation, though your pic will probably help alot. It could also be that the hardening creeped up further then the hamon where you'd have a mix of pearlite and martinsite rather then a pure amount of one or the other, and that will etch differently. Then again I'm just talking out my rear without having seen the pic yet, oh well.

edit: Had another random guess after I finished posting... if it wasn't clay coated and it's thin enough, maybe the edge of the spine actually air hardened a little, so the center between your hamon and the ghost line is your soft area, with the spine itself being a little harder?