I use an Escoffier carbon steel knife I inherited from a friend for most of my food prep. It’s an excellent blade, it holds a better edge for longer than any of the good quality stainless steel blades I’ve had. And I’d much rather have a great working blade than a knife that’s destined to be an “heirloom” which should be “displayed” in my kitchen - it’s a kitchen, not an art gallery or a snob chamber.
No one actually knows how the original Damascus steel “raw” material, wootz, was made, although close imitations have been created through reverse-engineering based on modern analysis. So all modern “Damascus steel” blades which claim to be made from modern “wootz” are imitations based on scholarship and modern technology.
Knives using modern steels but created with pattern welding (real Damascus blades were pattern welded), while not “Damascus steel” (since the actual steel is different) are sometimes sold as “Damascus steel”. It all depends on whether or not you call any pattern-welded blade a “Damascus” blade, I guess, which seems unfair to all the other ancient blade makers who also used pattern welding.
Modern carbon steel out-performs Damascus steel (original or re-created), so the only reason to own it is the pretty patterns on the blades. I prefer better steel to pretty steel, myself.
