Notching of sword blades -Austria 18th century

[Hotspur]

Just a guess on my part but I'll look at some other stuff. if we are seeing this on predominately cavalry swords, I would say it is for retreiving one's reins (or possibly fashionable to retreive one's hat without dismounting).


Cheers

Hotspur; pure speculation but thought out a bit

Edit

Or snag an opponent off balance to dismount or harry