damascus and why it's so expsensive
To truly understand and appreciate why damascus blades are so expensive, you must truly understand what damascus is, and how it is made.
For that I would refer you to investigate the people who perfected the process of producting damascus... Japanese swordsmiths. Without damascus steel, the legendary status of the samurai wouldn't have exhisted.
There are plenty of great videos on youtube. Just search for "how samurai swords are made" and try and pick one of the 10 minute long videos. They will explain in detail how the steel is made.
The two key components in making good Damascus are the carbon content, and the differential tempering (in swords at least)
Too much carbon will make the blade brittle, not enough and it will be too soft to cut.
The tempering also aids in this process. The edge of the blade is heated and cooled more rapidly than the spine. this allows the edge to remain stiff for cutting, and the spine to be flexible for shock obsubtion.
Sorry for the long response, I'm just a Samurai/ Damascus nut. Hope this helped