English blades

[mariusgmioc]

Originally Posted by urbanspaceman

This seems like another simple question but I have a feeling it may prove otherwise.
During my research there has been one unavoidable issue that remains unanswered:
why could the English not produce sword-blades of the same quality as the Germans - at least until the 2nd quarter of the 18th century?

You should be asking "why most of Europe could not produce sword blades of the same quality as the Germans?"

And the answer is, "yes, they could."

The quality of the blades made in Toledo made them even more famous than the most famous German blades.

Also the blades made in Northern Italy (Milano, Caino, etc.) were by no means inferior to their German counterparts.

But what the Germans managed to master better than anyone else was mass producing sword blades with consistently high quality and they exported them throughout the world. While both Toledo and Milano could and did produce blades of superb quality, they produced very few of them, while the Germans produced them in industrial quantities.

Now why English sword makers didn't produce blades of the same quality like their German counterparts, I don't know. But since the technology/know-how of making a high quality sword blade is quite complex, it may be because the English smiths were not familiar with all the tricks of the craft?!

Or, it may be that the English smiths simply did not have access to raw materials of the same quality like their German counterparts?!

Or maybe they did manage to produce blades of quality matching the quality of German blades, but they did not manage to do it cost efficiently (in time and effort) and could not efficiently compete in a market saturated with German products?!