Trim and slice meat, slice up onions and apples. After various kitchen chores clean the blade and put a thin sheen of oil on it. You will see a fantastic natural patina in a very short time. Some of the colors are nice.
If you are simply working dry wood, you won't see anything. I have an eight year old carbon blade that sits on my hearth for daily use in winter season. It has a thousand scratches but is shiny as new steel. That thing holds an edge like no other after quite a bit of abuse too.