I do not collect edged weapons, but used to regard ground blades on bayonets and sabers as mostly post war mutilation, at least from the point of view of a collector.

But ever since getting into researching Japanese Army practices, I have come to understand that bayonets and sabers were supposed to have an edge added in preparation for field action and then dulled down with a file in peacetime, as a completely normal and expected practice. Of course we are talking about machined blades.

Although the manuals describe this as something every soldier should be doing as a routine, do collectors commonly see traces of such intentional sharpening and dulling on the items?

Here are some illustrations from the Army Master Regulations on how to set up the blade sharpening and dulling down jigs, which still make me cringe to look at.

Is it common knowledge among collectors of these edged weapons that filing on and filing off cutting edges was routine practice in the IJA?

Click to enlarge the picture