Why are swords so expensive?

Will P.

Will P.

Joined
Mar 26, 2004
Messages
1,467
Why are Western spring tempered swords of the sort made by Cold Steel so expensive? I mean, a solid machete or bolo doesn't cost much at all, and is practically the same thing, right?
 
I am sure that there are many answers for this, one is the finishon the steel. If you got a machete or bolo with a mirror finish then the price would be several times what you would pay for one compared to the normal finish. It takes alot of work to put a nice finish on that much steel.
 
A sword is a very different beast than a Bolo or machete. Made to do much different tasks. Take a look over at http://www.swordforum.com/ for more info on swords. Cold Steel's pricing polices are another matter.
 
Why are Western spring tempered swords of the sort made by Cold Steel so expensive?

They are priced that way because Cold Steel thinks that they will sell at that price.

Irrespective of the price; beware of cheaply made swords. A good sword is usually very expensive and should be. Sword blades are much more complicated then knives, they need to absorb many times the stress, and must be made light enough to wield effectively. I takes a good deal of engineering to make a good sword; something which many modern makers simply ignore.

n2s

p.s. The History Channel aired a documentary on swords last year in which they showed slow motion camera footage of a sword during a cutting slash. The film captures the sword bending well in excess of 90 degrees and almost wrapping itself around the target, before returning to true. A real sword is much more then sharpened length of flat bar; and, anything less then that is best left mounted on a wall.
 
not2sharp said:
p.s. The History Channel aired a documentary on swords last year in which they showed slow motion camera footage of a sword during a cutting slash. The film captures the sword bending well in excess of 90 degrees and almost wrapping itself around the target, before returning to true. A real sword is much more then sharpened length of flat bar; and, anything less then that is best left mounted on a wall.
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Bingo! Thank you, N2S, that is one of the very best and most succinct discussions that I have seen on the making of swords.
 
From reading history on western swords, the best of the long and bastard sword types were able to completely bend into a "U" shape regularly with no distress to the blade whatsoever.
 
There's far more to it then just the finish. Some of the performance characteristics have already been discussed. Machetes and bolos are made for cutting vegetable material, swords are made for dealing with a variety of things depending on type including armor, shields and of course contact with other swords. Look at the cross section and edge geometry of a well made sword it is very different then the cross section of a machete. Feel the balance of a well made sword again it's very different then a machete or bolo. Cold steel swords are on the low end of things. Their katana are roughly the same as mid range Chen pieces in my opinion their western swords are mid to low end at best.
 
I am often amazed at the thinking that swords cost so much. Many that frequent these forums spend way more, per inch, on knives.

As true with many items, you generally get what you pay for. There is a range of price for any given production item, suggested retail to discount. Some vendors may be at the higher end of the scale and offer better customer service.

I think we have been seeing an increase in prices amongst production makers, mostly due to their costs. Just about anything costs more than it did ten years ago.

Some production swords that shouldn't be very flexible, unfortunately are. Stiff does not need to mean weak and flexible doesn't need to mean wimpy. There are too many variables to lump all swords into a "this is the way they should be" description.

Yes, a machete or bolo is a cheap alternative for a cutting device. They are certainly historical devices but only remotely approach the characteristics of the western (European) type swords. Cold Steel gets mixed reviews on their offerings and you must remember that they are primarily middle manning the stuff. For twice the price, you can get twice the sword. For the same money, or less, there are comparable alternatives.

Good luck with your quest for a sword that meets your needs/interest. The only problem with buying one is that you'll certainly buy another;)

Cheers

GC
 
Has anyone had any experience with the Himalyan Imports swords. They are interesting looking and are not really very expensive, when it comes right down to it.
 
I'll admit that I don't have any real interest in swords whatsoever. I was just pretty sick at seeing that "FIGHTING NINJA SWORD" thread sitting at the top of this forum for so many weeks.

I doubt I am going to have to hack through armor. There's something called a .223... newfangled modern thinking...

Shann, i have heard good things about the HI swords. You might want to ask in the HI forum though.
 
Has anyone had any experience with the Himalyan Imports swords. They are interesting looking and are not really very expensive, when it comes right down to it.
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I have a HI Tibetan Short Sword. It is very sturdy with a thick blade, but also quite heavy. For me at least it is definitely a two handed sword.

I think the amount of money that one must pay for a sword depends on what one is after. If you want a historically accurate high quality sword, that would be serviceable in a Mideval battle, then you will have to pay a lot - probably in the thousands of dollars.

On the other hand, a person on a budget can find a serviceable sword, like those offered by HI, Cold Steel, and Paul Chen for prices in the low hundreds.
By serviceable I mean something that will not break or fall apart if one tries to cut with it. It may not be a good one to have for a Mideval battle, but we don't have too many of those these days.

All most of us will ever do with a sword is admire it, be it a functional sword or a cheap wall hanger. In the rare case that one had to use a sword for home defense (and it would not be a good choice of weapons for that purpose), I think a HI sword would do fine in dispatching a burglar. The high dollar swords might work a lot better against Mideval armor, but home invasions by guys wearing suits of armor are exceptionally rare.
 
Since all here seem to agree that a good sword can be expensive, I would really value your opinions for the best swords(s) to purchase for the buck? Critera would be the best value of something that can be used in a combat situation, but hung on the wall until then. Best cutting power, but lowest realistic cost that you would not be afraid to take out and test/use; any thoughts? One previous author mentions that Cold Steel Swords are expensive ( I agree), but I have knives that cost more than some of their lower end swords.
 
APC said:
Since all here seem to agree that a good sword can be expensive, I would really value your opinions for the best swords(s) to purchase for the buck? Critera would be the best value of something that can be used in a combat situation, but hung on the wall until then. Best cutting power, but lowest realistic cost that you would not be afraid to take out and test/use; any thoughts? One previous author mentions that Cold Steel Swords are expensive ( I agree), but I have knives that cost more than some of their lower end swords.
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Do you want a sword that is custom made by hand, one of a kind? Just like in the knife collecting world custom swords are much more expensive than production, but they are much better. A good custom sword will cost at least $2000.

If you just want something to play around with and hang on the wall here are links to some production companies that have good reputations:

http://www.kriscutlery.com/
http://www.dguertin.com/
http://www.shadowofleaves.com/last_legend.htm

Museum replicas sells replicas of Eueopean swords made by an Indian company called Windlass Steelcrafts. I think they are not worth the money, but heres the URL:
http://www.museumreplicas.com/webstore/homepage.asp
 
What type of sword were you looking for? Japanese? Western? Phillipine? Chinese?
 
Will P. said:
Why are Western spring tempered swords of the sort made by Cold Steel so expensive? I mean, a solid machete or bolo doesn't cost much at all, and is practically the same thing, right?
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Try chopping a phone book in half with a machete out of the box and see what happens. :D
 
Well, since no one has mentioned it yet, check out All Saints Blades.

They have long been known for leading the performance curve with production swords, and are now making a few in the Japanese style as well.
 
pretty much all the sword makers linked are the cheaper end of the scale...Gus's ATRIM blades are very sturdy but I wont buy from the man (personal arguement), and Albion are higher up in the production field. Arms & Armour are really good in the production range too. But the end fact is unless your getting one of the Peter Johnsson Museum Collection™ swords (which are alot higher up into semi custom) you're paying a small sum of money. When you hold a custom sword, use one then you'll know EXACTLY why. I wont buy production unless its Albion or A&A now, but when I've taken my custom swords to Fairs and in the off chance I let someone hold it they immediately react to how different the feel and handling is to a cheaper production sword.

My cheapest custom was like $1900 (maybe more, I paid in deposits over a year and a half while it was being made) from Odin Blades...it can only go up from there.


www.armor.com <---A&A have my vote, Craig is amazing at his customer service which is what brings me back to a company.
 
I paid 160.00 for a LOTR replica to hang in my office and I thought that was alot till I priced some Cold Steel Samurai swords.I can get one of his full size for a tad over 300.00 around here which I would gladly pay for,I think they are beatiful to look at but as far as strengh I dont see an advantage over a good ole machette.

My father gave me a machette that he had from back in the 60's,possibly his VietNam and I have used it to clear half an acre of saplings,weeds,thorn bushes on my land and this on top of 40 yrs of abuse.Now its got some nicks in the blade and has been sharpened several dozen times but I dont see a Samurai sword standing up to this kind of abuse.Dont you think there would be alot of flexing when you hit a tree at the wrong angle and not once but several hundred possibly thousand times over the yrs.Maybe its just a good machette lol.
 
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