Interesting question

Here's a pic I just took of my Hartshead Barlow, which I'm carrying today, and a couple of other knives, which were to hand, the 2018 and 2019 Guardians SFOs.
The springs and blades are actually stamped out, by hand, with a huge old press, before they're ground, and sent off for HT, so it could be that the springs are cut like that by the press, deformed during HT, or more likely, I think, deformed when the springs are polished on a wheel post-HT.
Getting Wright's to re-examine the way they made their generally quite rough and ready knives was a near Herculean task, because they were used to making simple, functional knives at a particular price point. While I think I made some progress under the previous management, it ultimately proved futile under the new management, and half of the last knives I picked up off them didn't even have centred blades, which is when I threw in the towel. Most of their few cutlers were not up to making the sort of fine pocket jewellery we regularly see on The Porch, and their QC has gone from bad to worse, but then again, the price of their knives is comparatively modest, though of course for some members, those prices are inflated by overseas shipping, exchange rates, PayPal fees, etc.
I once asked John Maleham if they couldn't clean all the gunk out of the joints, which folks regularly complain about. He told me they could, but if a cutler had to spend 10 minutes cleaning the joint, it'd increase the cost. I don't know why the firm haven't taken more care to make the ends of the springs more cosmetically appealing, as I say QC has traditionally been low, and most of their cutlers have picked up bad habits, and are used to turning out cheap knives, at speed. I constantly stressed that I would pay extra for the extra time our knives took to make, and they certainly did take more care of them I think, but how do you get a 60-year old cutler to change the habits of a lifetime, particularly when he might not actually be seeing any extra cash himself? I was on a steep learning curve myself, and what I did eventually was pick their best cutler, and ask that he make the knives in entirety, and I'd slip some extra cash into his pocket, so I knew he was getting some benefit, beyond the pride of doing a good job