Why swords are so expensive?

[nanoboy]

Originally Posted by swampthing

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.

As someone who works with trees, I have to say that you can't expect a constant supply from them, either. Anyway, the issue (as you more or less describe it) isn't a low demand causing a high price but a low supply causing a higher price and no incentive for a supplier to increase his supply. I suspect, though, that overall, it has to do with the cost of labor and materials for a sword. It takes some good iron, a whole lot of charcoal, and a lot of highly skilled labor to make a sword.

[DanHoward]

David Sim has some manufacture times for some Roman artefacts in his book. He doesn't list a knife but his spearheads are about the same size. Arrowheads are less than an hour. Spearheads are 2-3 hours. A shortsword takes 36 hours. A broadsword takes hundreds of hours. This doesn't change until the invention of blast furnaces and homogenous steels at TL4.

[mhd]

How big is the grinding part of the blade-smithing process? I guess that went considerably better with a proper watermill and way better with modern powertools…

[DanHoward]

With a gladius, forging time from billet to blank is 5-6 hours, forging from blank to sword is around 2 hours, and finishing time is around 30 hours.

[blacksmith]

Originally Posted by mhd

How big is the grinding part of the blade-smithing process? I guess that went considerably better with a proper watermill and way better with modern powertools…

Not sure a water wheel would help. A basic foot powered grinding wheel would likely have enough power. It is not the energy needed to grind but getting the speed up. To fast and you have heating problems.

There is also the need to get the stones to run at those speeds and not blow up.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

For mayhem a bow would normally be more useful. As a bonus it is a means of helping convince foragers to seek supplies elsewhere.

As Tolkien dramatized in "The Scouring of the Shire."

Bill Stoddard

[mhd]

Originally Posted by blacksmith

Not sure a water wheel would help.

At least it would save you the labor of someone turning it. I don't think the grinder himself would work at optimum efficiency if he's doing it himself, all day, all year… (Not that they had a very good lifespan anyway, with all the dust flying around)

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

David Sim has some manufacture times for some Roman artefacts in his book. He doesn't list a knife but his spearheads are about the same size. Arrowheads are less than an hour. Spearheads are 2-3 hours. A shortsword takes 36 hours. A broadsword takes hundreds of hours. This doesn't change until the invention of blast furnaces and homogenous steels at TL4.

Wikipedia says that the Chinese had blast furnaces far earlier than TL4.
How much would such a primitive form reduce time for forging?

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Wikipedia says that the Chinese had blast furnaces far earlier than TL4.
How much would such a primitive form reduce time for forging?

Blast furnaces smelt ore into cast iron; I don't think they help at all with turning steely iron or medium carbon steel into a billet, or turning the billet into a blade. Water and wind powered and grinding wheels help a little bit for finishing but there is still a lot of skilled work with forge and hammer.

Grinding got a lot more important in the late 20th century when smiths realized that steel was so cheap they could just grind down a billet and accept heavy waste. Preindustrial smiths had to be more careful with blade steel.

[Verjigorm]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Wikipedia says that the Chinese had blast furnaces far earlier than TL4.
How much would such a primitive form reduce time for forging?

China didn't have blast furnaces earlier than TL4, China just happened to be TL4 when Europe was struggling with TL3. I think there's merit to the idea that the TL guidelines for dates shouldn't be taken as literal, everywhere at the same time dates.