This is in fact damascus steel, or more accurately, pattern welded steel. It's two types of stainless steel forge welded together, dissimilar enough for one to oxidize and etch faster than the other. What that means is if you polish the etched steel away, you will need an etchant to bring the pattern back. That's just how damascus works. Mine did the same thing when I was doing the final polishing steps as it's difficult to not polish the steel in the process. Simple fix, a q-tip soaked in ferric chloride brought the pattern back within seconds. If you can't get your hands on ferric chloride, you can potentially use a vinegar and lemon juice concentrate...it'll just take a bit longer to etch the steel. Whether you're using epoxy or CA, both are resistant to etchants, so it won't harm the inlay. Only leave the etchant on long enough for it to get the pattern visible again, then rinse in water and scrub with soap to be sure the etchant has been neutralized. Alternatively, maybe try coating the steel in nail polish so you don't inadvertently polish the etched steel, if you're careful you might not need to re-etch at all. If all of this sounds difficult, don't worry! Etching is super simple and anyone can do it, don't let that scare you away from it. The ring looks great even when you leave that outer surface mirror polished without etching, as the pattern will still be visible on the facet and sides of the ring if you didn't go overboard with the sanding and polishing...you just won't have as much of the pattern visible is all. As for comfort, the steel is only lightly etched, so you can barely even tell there's a difference other than texture. It's rather smooth and you can really only feel it with your fingernail, you definitely won't notice when wearing it. I would recommend this blank to anyone, even a first time ringmaker, as etching is just one more skill you'll learn along the way and you can always attempt it later on when you're more comfortable with it.
