As promised I took a look under the magnifying glass and in bright light and I cannot see little swirls or any kind of ugly marks on the blade of my LE. There are some very light brush lines that run from the spine to the edge which I assume are left over from the polishing process. They are faint and in now way detract from the beauty of the blade.

Maybe I got lucky, or maybe my standards are not as high as some of the folks who post here but in my opinion the LE is a darn good knife and real value for the money.