I have to vent

**stickman** · 16th July 25, 09:39 AM

Sorry, but I need to complain about the USPS. I made two more sgian blades and sent them to heat treat. The company I sent them to went out of business about a month before my blades got there. As far as I can find out the postman just left them outside the door of a vacant building. The buildings on each side are also vacant. I can’t understand why my package was not returned to me. Was it too much trouble? Each of my blades takes about a week to make. They are completely made by hand. I only have a bench grinder to grind a blank down to my lines. I cut the blade blanks out with a hacksaw. Then file it down to a blade and finish with sandpaper from 180 to 2000 grit. Then some clown leaves my 6oz. package on a doorstep. Sorry, but I just had to vent.

**Troglodyte** · 18th July 25, 12:21 AM

Originally Posted by stickman

Sorry, but I need to complain about the USPS. I made two more sgian blades and sent them to heat treat. The company I sent them to went out of business about a month before my blades got there. As far as I can find out the postman just left them outside the door of a vacant building. The buildings on each side are also vacant. I can’t understand why my package was not returned to me. Was it too much trouble? Each of my blades takes about a week to make. They are completely made by hand. I only have a bench grinder to grind a blank down to my lines. I cut the blade blanks out with a hacksaw. Then file it down to a blade and finish with sandpaper from 180 to 2000 grit. Then some clown leaves my 6oz. package on a doorstep. Sorry, but I just had to vent.

I can feel your frustration..!

I frequently send to the US, and find that USPS is usually a good and reliable service, if a bit slow.

The loss of the blades and the time and effort that you have put into them seems to be something you have no option but accept - but what about compensation for the loss? Can you make a claim?

Sending via Royal Mail in partnership with USPS means that the sending service and insurance cover provided as standrd by Royal Mail is continued when the item is in the hands of USPS, which also includes tracking and delivery information. Leaving a package on a doorstep is the same as non-delivery, especially when the premises is vacant, so it is puzzling why the postie failed to return the package.

**stickman** · 18th July 25, 05:34 AM

Yes, I was certainly frustrated. There was an automatic $100 insurance, that I am in the process of filing for. Wonder how long that will take. The neighbor across the street sent me a Christmas card, I got it in March. I have started to make two more blades, good thing I had a little bit of 440C left. I will have to find another heat treat facility. I can’t do myself as I don’t have an oven to hold the temperature. If I had used some of the other knife steels I could have heat treated them myself. However I gave up on them in favor of the rust resistance of 440C stainless.

**geomick** · 18th July 25, 04:49 PM

who did you send it to? I tried checking the places I knew of that offered heat treating and one stopped offering the service in January and the other one closed due to owner retirement and is now owned by Jantz supply (but I don't know if Jantz is going to offer heat treat services).

**stickman** · 18th July 25, 05:53 PM

I sent my blades to Texas Knife Supply. That’s the one that the owner retired, the business was bought out by Jantz, they are not going to do any heat treat. They are going to use a man called Cowboy, I have talked to him on the phone. When I get the two blades I started yesterday finished I will give him a try. He sounded like he knew his stuff. Only thing is he is way more expensive than Texas Knife was.

**geomick** · 18th July 25, 06:15 PM

it is a shame that TKS is gone, but I can understand owners wanting to retire. So Jantz has now acquired Koval (years ago) and TKS. I had dealt with all 3 of those companies and even visited TKS once when I had a work trip that had me flying thru Houston. Lots of fun packing the blades and such to stash in my checked luggage.

**Jock Scot** · 19th July 25, 07:59 AM

Blimey! That's enough to make a saint swear!

**stickman** · 19th July 25, 07:53 PM

Originally Posted by Jock Scot

Blimey! That's enough to make a saint swear!

Hello Jock, I have to admit I did turn the air a little blue.

After all I’m not (quite) a saint. I’m just getting too old for the aggravation, I’ll 87 on 11-11.

**stickman** · 19th July 25, 08:03 PM

Originally Posted by geomick

it is a shame that TKS is gone, but I can understand owners wanting to retire. So Jantz has now acquired Koval (years ago) and TKS. I had dealt with all 3 of those companies and even visited TKS once when I had a work trip that had me flying thru Houston. Lots of fun packing the blades and such to stash in my checked luggage.

When I lived in Houston I visited TKS several times. That was 25 years ago and I did business with them for years. That’s why I did’t call them before I sent my blades, never dawned on me that they would be closed.

**grizzbass** · 24th July 25, 08:40 AM

during the first trump administration Dejoy, a man with huge business conflicts of interest, was appointed post master general in order to disrupt and get rid of the USPS in order to privatize it. He has done a remarkable job of making it ineffective and incompetent. Until then I have never had a package disappear or get stuck somewhere in the delivery. Now it seems almost ever package takes muck longer and I have had 5 that the sender has had to replace. One package went from about 2 hours from my home eventually to anchorage alaska (I received an out for delivery notice on the tracking despite living in California). That took about a week and then another week to finally return to california and get to me.