Actually I thought I briefly talked about this in another thread. You can take your original shaft with a little work and make it look just as Sauron describes. I'll give away some restoration tricks for those that want to experiment with this at home.
The metal should actually be somewhat shiny like a new raw metal appearance. After the evaporust treatment, I wet sand them in progression until I get a finish that is close.
To duplicate the weld discoloration, I mask the area in question and use Gun Blue repair fluid, can be bought at most sports stores like Dicks, Bass Pro etc..or any gun store...
First mask the weld itself, rub it in by hand for a dark blue color with a rag. Remove the tape and then tape about a 1/2" out from the weld and apply a lighter coat of gun blue rubbing it in with a piece of steel wool to provide a lighter blue appearance. Then I lightly wet sand the outer areas of the gun blue with 2000 grit to feather out the edges as the discoloration from a weld would naturally appear, takes time and a little experimenting to get what you want but eventually you get the desired look. You can do this around the balance weights as well.
When finished I spray the shaft with satin clear and then apply the stripes. When all finished you still have your original driveshaft with correct ends etc...but it will look like a brand new one that will pass most judging scrutiny.
This process can also be used on other suspension parts that are natural metal where heat was applied.