Before and after

Ok , it is nothing special .It was time to relieve some stress through sharpening and I decided to give my home kitchen knife (ikea slitbar ) little make over. First i have thinned , then I have polished it little bit (220 , 300 ,1000 ,6000 , j nat and syntethic 12k) It took me a 45 minutes total , it could have been perfect mirror finish but I ran out of time since I had to pick up my daughter from daycare. It was a good practice for my incoming Kato

Nice hands very shiny

Nice one!
How is the edge retention on this one?

The mirror finish looks great man, great exercise!

icanhaschzbrgr said:

Nice one!
How is the edge retention on this one?

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If I remember correctly these knives are below or up to 55 HRC. Very soft and the edge retention is nothing close to good. Putting a fine edge on these is not an option, probably only a knifesteel will get you some OOTB sharpness back.

Among the soft Germans it isn't the worst. Not that soft at all, IIRC. Poor grinding anyway. Above all, a crazy handle heavy balance because of all that steel incorporated into the handle. Popular among a general public that ask for a 'tough' knife but isn't prepared to pay for a Wüsthof or Goldhamster. Hideous design.

The Ikea Slitbar is cheap and maybe not so bad (i have never used one but seen them).
I hear from some well informed sources that it is made from Takefu VG-10 that is purchased in Japan and assembled in China. The reason for not writing VG-10 on the side in all countries are trademark issues.

As such i would expect it to be higher than 55HRC as the steel certainly can take it.

Nice polish by the way!

I've sharpened them. No way it's VG-10. It seems to me, IIRC, our good old German X50 etc., hardened a little further than common. Expect some crazy carbides here and there.

Benuser said:

I've sharpened them. No way it's VG-10. It seems to me, IIRC, our good old German X50 etc., hardened a little further than common. Expect some crazy carbides here and there.

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(In the UK at least) there are two knives called "Slitbar" available at IKEA. One is monosteel, Cr/Mo/V type, very much as you describe. The other is a san-mai stainless "damascus" with a much harder core - which looks a lot like the construction of any number of Japanese OEM (or even Taiwanese (Zhen) blades). This is where the VG10 rumours come from. The san-mai knife is nearly 3 times the price.

The ones I've handled were mono-steel, indeed. Thanks for the clarification!

sounds like great practice