Hand American Strop broken in transit...time to cry!

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Nick24

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I'm so bummed...I've been waiting a little while to get my Hand American strop and it finally comes today, but it was broken! It looks really pretty though, but it's broken. I feel so weird. I was like...noooooooo! I just emailed Keith...anybody have any experience with their customer service...or maybe even have an experince just like mine. I hope I can get it fixed, but I also hope I don't have to pay $11.00 shipping again. I am sooooo bummed.

I wish I could use it, but I shouldn't...not to mention I don't know how. Anybody with any good advice on how to use this particular strop with the green compound? I need to know what angles and which directions to go...I am such a beginner it makes me cry at night...and now I have one more reason!
 
so what is your point? he will surely contact you and make it right. If it is their fault it is them to make it ok again. don´t worry and whine until the situation is settled, but report your experiences.

sorry for the rude undertone, but you have to give a manufacturer time to react before putting them in question.

Hope everything turns out well!!!
 
I'm sure they will make good on their product. Just be patient and all should be well.

What form of the green compound are you using, "crayon", powder, "liquid"? Give us some more info and all of us stroppers will be happy to give our opinions!

I use the "crayon" type of green compound and I apply it by just making a wavy line the length of the strop. The knife blade distributes the compound and I just keep charging the strop until there is "enough" on it. You tend to get a feel for how much is "enough" the more you use your strop.
 
I was wondering what part of a strop you could break so I did a Google search for "hand american strop". What I came up with was a bunch of "spanking" websites. They were informative, but did not show me a most likely failure point for a strop. They seemed to be able to use their strops rather roughly without harm (to the strop).

So what part of the strop assembly got damaged?
 
I wouldn't know about the HandAmerican stuff in particular, but after a trip to their web sight, I presume that you have the "Scary Sharp & Leather Combo Honing System." In which case, the only thing that could really break is the base for mounting the strips and leather. Since I am feeling pretty happy with my crystal ball at the moment, I can also draw the presumption that you are using the liquid Chromium Oxcide solution.

[Stop middle-eastern mystical music & turn lights back up]

Stropping has GOT to be the most neglected part of sharpening a knife. It's such a simple, inexpensive, and brief step with huge results. I just don't consider a sharpening job done until the blade has met leather. I have about three differnt leather strops that I use from time to time. My favorite is probobly the one I got from knivesplus.com. I use the wax based chromium oxide from Lee Valley Tools. It is a pretty dense recipe with plenty of abrasive material (some crayon type sticks are "more wax" - "less abrasive").

I've also been a big fan of the 3M 15, 5, and .5 micron PSA backed, mylar sandpaper for sharpening my woodworking tools (chisels, planes and router bits). I use a 8x10 piece of heavy plate glass to mount the paper, as this gives me a large super-flat surface for lapping the backs of the tools.

For knives, I prefer a more traditional hand and stone proccess, but it still ends with a good stropping.

I also like to use a little olive oil with the ChO crayon to help distribute and penetrate the leather.
 
Sorry for the whining...I thought I could use a little humor in my time of despair...I didn't really cry...really I didn't. Jemelby was right...the top piece of the base that keeps the strop in place broke. I just wanted to know if anyone had dealt with Hand American. In response to Revierler...I was only posting here to talk about my experience not to put Hand American in question. My main purpose is to get specific instruction on what angles to use and how to apply the compound. So that was my point...I hope nobody thought I was blasting Hand American for a shipping accident. It was actually packaged very well...I think the problem was on the UPS end.

I was happy to find an email and a solution already in my mailbox today. Keith said he would ship out another one and I can send mine back. So I am definately happy with their customer service. I was just hoping some of you might give me some of your techniques for using it. I am using the green chromium oxide compound.
 
Nick24 said:
My main purpose is to get specific instruction on what angles to use and how to apply the compound.
Click to expand...
There used to be a great page on the HandAmerican site that showed exactly how to do it, it looks like it's gone now. The condensed version is, put your knife on the end of the strop so that the edge is pointing to that end. Push forward slightly, adjusting the angle until you just start to feel it bite into the leather. Then draw the knife backwards (edge trailing) across the strop. At the end of the stroke, lift the blade straight off the strop, or flip it so that the edge comes off the strop first - you don't want to do a flip with the edge touching the strop or it will start to round off the edge. Then after you've turned the knife, do the other side the same way. Repeat until you're happy with the edge.

If you're using the green powder, I just rubbed it into the smooth leather a little at a time, the action of the stropping helped distribute it. I didn't use any oil or anything but eventually it got rubbed in. A little goes a long way with that stuff.
 
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