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A while back I started on a pair of mountain-man style throwing knives. They were cut from some random square tubing a friend of mine had lying around. I wasn't too concerned with the quality of the steel, since they're going to get thrown and banged up any way. I got them ground down and shaped, and cold-hammered the edges (this was before I'd built my forge). When I got my forge built, I decided to use a clay temper to harden them. (Please keep in mind I was still mostly clueless about what I was doing at this point). For clay, I used white clay that is all over my place about 2 feet under ground. I mixed up a good thick paste, and smeared it on the blades, leaving the edges bare. I think it was about 1/4 inch thick on the spines. Then I heated them orange-hot in the forge, and quenched them in water. The clay all came off, and I was left with a weird "splatter" pattern all over the blades. It's fairly deep,too. It has a texture you can feel. What is it? What caused it? And how do I avoid it on future blades that I want to look good?