This paper presents a methodology to model a blanking process using a continuum mechanical damage model. A variant of the Lemaitre model, in which the quasi-unilateral conditions are taken into consideration to modify the damage behavior under compressive stress states, is selected as material model. S45C high-carbon steel is analyzed experimentally. To characterize the damage behavior of the material, notched round bar tensile tests with three different notch radii (6 mm, 10 mm, and 20 mm) using image analysis are performed. Using digital image processing, the strain at the deformation zone can be computed for the load–strain curves. Those curves are used as an objective function to determine the parameters of the Lemaitre damage model. The experimental results are compared with the results of the FE analysis of the tensile test. The identified model parameters are used in numerical investigations of axisymmetric blanking. The effect of the model's extension to quasi-unilateral damage evolution is discussed. The crack progress in high-carbon steel sheet during blanking and the final sheared part morphology are predicted and compared with the experimental results. Sheared surface and burr height obtained by the analysis coincide with the results of the blanking experiment.