Today's Damascus steel is much harder than the old stuff. One of the knife makers I know uses heavy telephone wire to forge the blades. Apparently the wire bundle has a nice selection of hard and less hard steel to work with.
I've looked at some Dmascus blades but they appear to be nowhere near the hardness of good current knife steel. They are, however, very beautiful.
Right ... my S30V and ATS-4 blades are much harder, hold their edge considerably longer. The one Damascus blade I own does sharpen quicker, though, but doesn't hold its edge quite as long.
Gillette used to buy old submarines to make razor blades. They may still do that, I don't know.
Check the link at #42, and go to the pattern welded section. Pretty pictures of different damascus patterns.