It will seem strange to some, but even melee weapons have a degree of wear. They also knew about this in the Russian Imperial Army. The troops had strict regulations, according to which it was possible to quickly and easily determine whether the checker was still a suitable tool or whether it was time to hand it over for nails and horseshoes. Of course, this regulation was often violated, especially in remote garrisons. And yet, what melee weapons in the empire were considered useless?
At the beginning of the 20th century, the rules in the Russian army regarding edged weapons were reissued back in the 19th century, although not without changes. So, for example, in the early years of the last century, the RIA (Russian Imperial Army) abandoned the practice of artificially blunting sabers and checkers in peacetime. Now weapons always had to be kept sharp and maintained in due order by responsible military personnel. As a rule, sharpening in peacetime was updated once a year after winter classes. The only exceptions were pikes for the Cossacks, lancers and cuirassiers. They were sharpened only once and that one at the factory.
All edged weapons, according to the rules in force in the army, had to be checked by the authorities at least once every two years. Particularly for this task, there were separate positions for headquarters officers in the units. Most often these were military specialists with an artillery education. It was believed that they were the most educated and technically savvy people in the land army of the empire.
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There were for each type of weapon and its own rules for rejection. All edged weapons that did not pass army tests were then sent for disposal. So, for example, for checkers, there were two stages of verification. At the first, the blade was checked for the presence of shells, breaks, nicks, as well as nicks repaired by soldering. If the person in charge found at least one of the listed symptoms, the weapon was broken and sent for scrap.
If the checker passed the first stage of verification, the second one was waiting for it. The blade of a good checker, suitable for service, could not be more than 1 inch (25.4 mm) long, no more than 2 lines (5.1 mm) wide, no more than 1 line (1.25 mm) thick mm). In addition, there should be no cracks, abrasions or tears on the hilt of the weapon. The tip, mouth and clips of the checkers had to hold well and have a strong solder. Thus, only the checker that passed all the checks mentioned above could be considered suitable for use in the army.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about why did the Russian soldiers wind strange bandages on his feet during the First World War.
Source: https://novate.ru/blogs/280422/62850/