Well, actually I kind of like the look better after buffing on this particular one. It still has very much a bright shiny appearance, but with the hamon line still visible. I've etched it a few times, and the area under the hamon line is etching very dark, and above the line is much lighter. I have ordered some Flitz, and will try etching and polishing with that to see how that looks also. This is definitely fun, though.
Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that this is 1084, so probably not going to get as good of a hamon some other steels. I'm just happy I have something that looks interesting.