I've always had the standard stainless type hunting knives (440 of some type). I like the look of the Damascus blades?

What are the pros and cons of each, especially when it comes to hunting chores such as gutting, skinning, etc?

I have never used either, but I would say that one con for the damascus blade would be money. Lots of money.

You know that Damascus steel is high carbon steel, not stainless, right?

That is not true there is stainless damascus.

I did not know that.

Have ground blades for ProTech Knives in both high carbon and stainless damascus. www.protechknives.com

If you want to compare the edge holding ability and the cutting ability (some steels will just plain get sharper than others), then I would say a lot would depend on the skill of the maker, the heat treatment, and the type steel used.

A good steel knife, ATS 34, 154CM, BG42, S30V, and others, properly heat treated would out preform a lousy made Damascus blade, and I am sure there have been some lousy damascus blades turned out.

Conversly, a properly made damascus blade, using suitable steel, would out perform an improperly ground and heat treated blade made from the steels listed above.

If both were properly made, using a suitable steel, I doubt that you would be able to tell much difference in performance, although I cannot speak from experience, except that I have used and seen used many ATS 34 and 154 CM blades, and I have no complaints.

From what little I know about damascus, it can be differential hardened, therefore it should be more flexable that a ground (stock removal) blade.

Of course, if the knifemaker knows what he he doing, some of the stock removal blades can also be differential hardened, but I don't know if any of the steels that require heat treating in a controled atmosphere furnace could be differential hardened.

thanks. I was just looking at the damascus because it's pretty, and wondered if it was useable or not.