To me, "real" Damascus is a blade made from Damascus steel, where the Damascus steel is the cutting edge.
Salem Straub, Devin Thomas, Delbert Ealy, Halcyon Forge, for example, make "real" Damascus knives often with carbon steels like 1080 and 15n20. These knives do not have a core steel. They are made like mono-steel knives but from a Damascus billet.
I would describe the typical Japanese Damascus knives as "
Damascus clad", not "real" Damascus.
These knives have a core steel and a "real" Damascus cladding, but are still clad knives.
The "real" Damascus knives from Japan are referred to are "Coreless "Damascus" and often blend VG10 and VG2.
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