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Old 11-18-2011, 09:52 AM   #11
chris1982
 
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Default Re: Why swords are so expensive?

Nontheless I think the Long Knife is too cheap - They are produced in a similiar fashion than swords and sabers.
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Old 11-18-2011, 10:15 AM   #12
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Default Re: Why swords are so expensive?

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Originally Posted by smurf View Post
IIRC there were cheap ones like a flattened bar with an edge put on it.
Which are, indeed, Cheap in GURPS (40% of the usual price - so take a dulltipped Broadsword, a Cheap one is only $200).
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Old 11-18-2011, 10:17 AM   #13
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Default Re: Why swords are so expensive?

Quote:
Originally Posted by smurf View Post
IIRC there were cheap ones like a flattened bar with an edge put on it.

It just took a lot of time because there was not machinery to speed up the process.
IIRC the scramsax - at least in some versions - was little more than a flat metal bar cast with a tang at each end, chamfer cut in half to produce a pair of blades onto which an edge was then ground.
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Old 11-18-2011, 10:29 AM   #14
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Default Re: Why swords are so expensive?

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I would also suspect that the fact that knives are necessary tools plays a role. A knife performs many functions around a house, farm, workshop, or campsite while swords are mostly just used to attack people. Ergo, more people will need knives, which means more people will make more knives, which makes knives cheaper.
Swords are more expensive because there is less demand?
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Old 11-18-2011, 10:33 AM   #15
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Default Re: Why swords are so expensive?

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Originally Posted by jason taylor View Post
Swords are more expensive because there is less demand?
Pretty much. It's not as visible at low tech as at high, but production cost per unit is generally higher when you're making fewer units at any tech level.
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Old 11-18-2011, 10:43 AM   #16
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Default Re: Why swords are so expensive?

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Swords are more expensive because there is less demand?
I think that a better way to say it is that swords have a niche market. (Lower demand should lower prices, after all.) That niche market will be discerning, as well. The soldiers who want a cheap weapon will choose a spear or an axe.
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Old 11-18-2011, 10:51 AM   #17
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Default Re: Why swords are so expensive?

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(Lower demand should lower prices, after all.)
The key you left out is that lower demand at a given supply level should lower prices. But since these are manufactured items, not things that grow on trees, you cannot assume a fixed supply.
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Old 11-18-2011, 11:09 AM   #18
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Default Re: Why swords are so expensive?

Of course swords vary in value. There could be a culture in which commoners take part in war often enough for them to desire swords. On the other hand such cultures often have not-quite-swords. Hoplites only used a sax-like, or kukri-like blade as a side arm. It was not a matter of money as every hoplite had a corselet and a shield. It was taste. Gurkhas preferred Kukris because kukris are far more versatile then swords.

Viking independent farmers and fishermen often owned swords if I remember. However they tended to prefer axes and spears. A spear is cheaper and an ax is more versatile.
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Old 11-18-2011, 11:14 AM   #19
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Default Re: Why swords are so expensive?

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The key you left out is that lower demand at a given supply level should lower prices. But since these are manufactured items, not things that grow on trees, you cannot assume a fixed supply.
Especially not with manufactured items. How much does it cost to get a vacuum tube made these days? If I heard correctly, the last factory in the Ukraine shut down, so at this point you're getting an artisan glassblower to make the glass part, and an electrician to solder and assemble each one by hand. Because the demand dropped.

When you get into very low demand situations, your run out of supply options - if the only guy making them is an amateur, you can only get whatever quality he's producing on any given day. If the only guy making them is a master craftsman, then you have no choice but to pay master craftsman prices for masterwork quality items - there are no Cheap knockoffs and Good middle of the road items.

Swords aren't quite at that level of low demand today, but while they were more in demand in previous eras there's a distinct distribution problem. If the sword smith was 100 miles away, you may be stuck making do with whatever the local blacksmith can bang out for you at whatever rate he feels like charging. Otherwise you have to risk walking or riding for three to four days to go pick up your sword and the trip back again (slightly safer now that you have a sword, but still generally expensive).
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Old 11-18-2011, 12:29 PM   #20
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Default Re: Why swords are so expensive?

Also swords are optimized not just for combat but for specific kinds of combat.
A peasant might be interested in surviving mayhem but normally his only connection to mass warfare is being the victim of foragers. For mayhem a bow would normally be more useful. As a bonus it is a means of helping convince foragers to seek supplies elsewhere.
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