I am not sure which one this is. I have several sections of damascus and section A has a smooth surface with no distinct hills and valleys while section B has a more distinct hills and valleys also section B looks a whole lot nicer on the eye. It is suppose to be the same metal but from different makers. Not sure if this is the way it was forged or the way it was etched. So any insight into this?

Ed

If they are two separate pieces of damascus using the same composition of metals then most of the difference should be the etch. Sounds like one has a fast etch just to get the pattern to show and the other has a longer etch, probably of several passes, to show how the steel could look in the finihed state ...