Your hamon looks well formed, that's unusual for a first effort. It is too close to the edge of the knife though so don't put they clay so far down the blade next time. You want the hamon to be between 1/2 and 2/3rds down the blade on most knives.
After that, you might want to increase the contrast with some careful finishing. How to do that is probably in those long explanations you mentioned. In short, buff and polish the area below the hamon.....
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