For all you knife makers out there

Does Damascus steel have any real world performance advantage over steel that costs pennies on the Damascus dollar?

That's too much work for me, I have about 200 hundred pounds of some brand new crane cable I picked up in Tulsa a few years ago. They cut off from a crane rigging company and of course they are greased up; they are done like that when manufactured for obvious reasons. They have been sitting under my grinding bench for about two years just collecting dust. I have about 200 pounds of it that I'll never use. I think they are 1" and 1 1/4 one piece is 1 1/2 most are about 30" long. I've gotten rid of about 400 pounds of it last year. I used to have the spec sheaths for it but only God knows where they are now... They are high carbon, fit to make a good billet.
I have them posted in Texas Knifemakers Guild Facebook page. I'd like to get rid of it all, I'm never going to use them without a power hammer. If anyone wants any, give me a call or text me 817 239 6123 if you are going to pick some up, bring gloves!

Some people should never monkey around with knives period!

What are you asking for the thicker pieces?

Good questions. Other than being purdy, I’ve always wondered the same about any advantages.

Originally, Damascus steel was used to get the mid between high carbon steels and iron. If the high carbon steel were used, it was often too high and due to them not knowing heat treating to the advance we know today, it would snap too easily. Iron would dull too easily. The mixture got more or less right in between. Nowadays heat treating technology as well as the ability to get the exact amount of carbon has made mono steels far surpassing Damascus of old, so as far as edge retention and toughness goes, modern Damascus is only equal or inferior to mono steels (it's possible to mess up the steel while welding it).
However there is one benefit to Damascus: as I said it's a mix of high and low carbon steel, which means the edge itself will have alternating layers of low then high carbon, from heel to tip. As the knife is used, the low carbon (normally the black bands in steel) wears away quicker, but the high stays sharp. This results in microscopic serrations, which are impossible to get that small otherwise. Serrated knives as a rule remove material faster, but because of large serrations they just rip the material away rather than separating it, essentially destroying the material. If you tried cutting a tomato with a serrated blade, you'd end up with a splatter of juice everywhere, but a smooth edge (if slightly dull) will slide on the tomato skin rather than cutting it. The Damascus blade however, has micro serrations: the edge of a given high carbon layer where it meets the (dulled away) low carbon is a sharp corner, which nicks and opens the tomato skin. Not big enough to rip it apart and send juice everywhere, but big enough to efficiently cut even when having not been dulled

That's the advantage....it's damn pretty! Something to be said for the wow factor when you unsheathe the beast.