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It may have been bead blasted, it does have that look to the metal.

Jimmy, I had thought about cell rot but what I see is too evenly distributed the entire length of the blade, shank and all.

From what I can see it looks as if it was never finely polished and left slightly unfinished to give the metal a "frosted" look. There does seem to be some excessive spine/hone wear towards the toe.