Canes made into inlaid steel (9)
I believe the answer is:
damascene
'steel' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'canes made into inlaid' is the wordplay.
'made' indicates anagramming the letters.
'into' is an insertion indicator.
'inlaid' becomes 'dame' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'canes' anagrammed gives 'ascen'.
'ascen' inserted inside 'dame' is 'DAMASCENE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for damascene that I've seen before include "in Arab city" , "Syrian" , "Rich ornamentation on metal" , "Middle Eastern" , "Middle Easterner" .)