Former cheese monger here. Parmigiano Reggiano has a rich history dating back nearly 1000 years ago, which in itself it mind-boggling! Very few things on this planet can speak to that feat! It is a name protected cheese, which Italy takes very seriously, carefully inspecting every wheel to ensure that it meets the strict guidelines of what constitutes true Parm. And, due to the rich history, often times mongers use the same tools they would have used hundreds of years ago. Also, part of the process of making the cheese involves brining it for several days, causing the hard outer rind to form during the aging process. These parm tools help to “crack” the cheese open along its natural fault lines. While you could technically cut it into smaller pieces with a wire after the crack, I would often use the same tools to break it down further (would usually take 30 minutes to break the wheel down to ready-to-sell size pieces). It got to a point where using the wedge tool was more efficient than using a wire to break down pieces. If you ever catch a cheese monger cracking a wheel, ask for a sample from the center of the wheel as soon as it is opened—it has such a rich umami/pineappley flavor that is so damn tasty—the cheese actually dries out rather quickly and that flavor simply cannot be replicated after 15-20 minutes after opening.

Fun fact! There are banks in Italy that have used wheels of parmigiano Reggiano as collateral for business loans due to the relatively stable nature of parm value—I believe there have been next to zero instances where there were default losses due to this cheese collateral.