I'm going to have to question the thought of the notches being used as a meat tenderizer. The point being, what do you do with the front part of the blade during the process? If the notches were on the spine and if the spine was straight it might be an effective tenderizer, no overreach chopping up the block or cutting board or actually cutting the meat that was being tenderized. Does this make sense? The notches are there for a reason for sure.
I remembered posting a comment saying my father-in-law was sure glad when they were able to finally put the cleavers away and began using power saws to split a beef carcass. I've seen both reciprocating saws and chain saws made for the meat industry.
Somebody will know about the notches and they may very well be fortenderize good.
Treefarmer.
