Anyone else encounter this, got thoughts or theories?

[Hickory n steel]

It seems like just about every older / " vintage " carbon steel kitchen knife I acquire is full of dings along the corners of the spine and I can't for the life of me imagine what people would have been doing with their knives to cause this.
I even encountered this on my dads two Kai cutlery commercial chefs he got when he was the head cook at a local diner for 18 years before they closed.
I asked him before when he had me sharpen them for him and he has no clue how he did it.

What do you guys think could be the cause of this ? And have you noticed this yourself ?
Are they doing the flashy hone steel thing you see on in moves or TV shows and accidentally dinging the spine ?
I'm not sure how you'd do that but I can't think of anything else?

 

[Rhinoknives1]

Don’t know about your father doing this? Could of been while he wasn’t looking?many have pounded the knife on the spine with a hammer or other steel implement thru a Coconut, bone or lobster/crab shell etc... I’ve been given $2-600.00 plus Japanese/Custom knives for sharpening that some home, line cook or ??? has done this to... it doesn’t materialize on its own. It’s from steel hitting steel...

 

[Bigfattyt]

Pounding the knife through hard items with a hammer or mallet.

 

[Hickory n steel]

Pounding the knife through hard items with a hammer or mallet.

That seems most likely, but I just wonder why it seems to mostly occur on the edges of the spine.
This is probably it though.

 

[Spideyjg]

The steel mushrooms out with enough pounding or they hit the edge. Get some old vintage cleavers. They can be heinous with that.

 

[Hickory n steel]

The steel mushrooms out with enough pounding or they hit the edge. Get some old vintage cleavers. They can be heinous with that.

Definitely .

I'll see if I have one I left alone to get pictures of, but what I tend to encounter seems to just be a bunch of dings in just the edges of the spine.
As long the 90° corner.

 

[Chefget]

Use the spine all the time (at the restaurant) to open large jars of olives, etc

 

[3fifty7]

I’ve seen too many time people trying to chop through bones by taking the knife of choice and hitting it on the spine with a honing steel. Cringe worthy.

 

[Hickory n steel]

I’ve seen too many time people trying to chop through bones by taking the knife of choice and hitting it on the spine with a homing steel. Cringe worthy.

That that and the har opening sure seem like the most likely suspects.