Refinished my 5/8 Hibbert, Spencer, and Bartlett with koma and tomo on a nice karasu.
This razor has a story with it. When I was a teenager (I am almost 60 now) and before I could drive, I took a bus to downtown Knoxville and bought a 5/8 Robert Klass from a store called United Merchandise which was in business for decades in Knoxville. They were a combination knife, razor, junk, pawn shop, etc, but a good reputable store with an enormous inventory of almost everything new and used. Couldn't afford new? They had a used one. If you still had a problem they'd finance.
In those days, all I had were some Arks that weren't well matched, unlapped, and in 1972-ish, there was no support for learning to hone like there is now. I learned pretty quickly that under those circumstances and late to work, that straight was not the best tool. So eventually the Klass went into the medicine cabinet for decades and eventually succumbed to rust while I was busy with school and work.
When I got back into straight shaving 6-7 years ago, I began looking for a straight on eBay since there was an enormous selection, and I chose the HSB as my first straight after the Klass. Why? I am a University of Tennessee grad so the orange and white scales sealed the deal after the blade looked good! I began to learn razor honing with it and the JNats I had for my Japanese kitchen knives.
I prefer 11/16-13/16 blades now so the HSB doesn't get a lot of face time, but I honed 'er up and had a wonderful shave with it this morning!
Cheers, Steve