Damascus really deserves three subcategories: pattern welded, laminated and wootz. Pattern welded steel is what most people know as damascus because of its popularity in knife art. It doesn't have the superior performace over monosteels anymore for the same reasons Brad mentioned above. Laminated steel is a hard steel core surrounded by a softer steel and has some superior qualities in tools that, imho, are at the top of their game in Norwegian knives and Swedish axes. A softer coating supporting a harder core is just a universal principle that works. Wootz I honestly can't comment on. I have one Wootz blade and it means to much too me to put through hard use. When you read about the properties of wootz, basically microcrystals of carbide suspended in softer steel, you think about carbide tipped saws and drill bits - it's a principle that you know works. I just don't know if enough good examples of it are out there to really test it.