[Crex]

Heard a much more mature smith than I refer to that as "painting" the finish. I use that technique all the time Jim. Takes a little practice to get the hammer strokes right and even but works very well.
There is a personal human bias that will show up when you forge a blade, as in one side will always be just a little better than the other (same with grinding a blade, we can't help it). Study your work and figure which side it is and work that side to satisfactory finish before doing the "easy" side. This is all in the final stages. You can make it to the point where only you will know it was there.