Brig. Fergusson, somewhere in The Wild Green Earth, records that his complaints about the poor quality steel of the dahs supplied by the Indian Army Ordnance Corps reached a high-level official.
"I explained how one bout of five minutes cutting serrated the edge like a saw. He was horrified, alright, but not for the reason we meant. "Do you mean to say you've been trying to cut trees with them?" he asked, scandalised.
"Well, what else is a dah for?"
"I'm not quite sure", he said, "but not that"
He was a perfect example of the type of officer I call 'pit ponies' who spend their lives in offices and blink when they get out in the open air."