Damascus steel is made by forge welding two or more steels. The steels are stacked, heated and pressed in order to forge weld the steel and then manipulated (cut/press/drilled etc) in order to create a visually aesthetic pattern. Originally Damascus steel was originated from today’s India and Pakistan area and nowadays its “secret technique” is considered lost. The Damascus blades- most of the time- are not top performance kitchen knives because of the poor performance steels used to make the patterns. Of course there are exceptions.