11-18-2011, 01:47 PM | #21 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Edmond, OK
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
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.
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11-18-2011, 01:58 PM | #22 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
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.
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11-18-2011, 02:06 PM | #23 |
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Land of the Beer, Home of the Dirndls
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
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…
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11-18-2011, 02:20 PM | #24 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
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.
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11-18-2011, 02:45 PM | #25 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
Quote:
There is also the need to get the stones to run at those speeds and not blow up. |
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11-18-2011, 03:36 PM | #26 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
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11-18-2011, 03:40 PM | #27 |
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Land of the Beer, Home of the Dirndls
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
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)
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11-18-2011, 05:14 PM | #28 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
Quote:
How much would such a primitive form reduce time for forging? |
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11-18-2011, 06:29 PM | #29 | |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
Quote:
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.
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11-19-2011, 08:18 AM | #30 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Charlotte, North Caroline, United States of America, Earth?
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Re: Why swords are so expensive?
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.
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knife, long knife, low tech, prices, sword |
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