[urbanspaceman]

Regarding the time it took to make a sword:
there were many stages in the production of a finished sword.
The first stage is obviously the forging of the blade.
Oley was getting his steel from Bertram, and Bertram understood better than all of them what it took to forge a blade, so the steel he supplied required minimal attention.
Then the various stages of grinding, hardening, sharpening and polishing were practiced by experts in that skill alone. This was always the Solingen way, and I see no reason to consider it differed when the smiths encamped in Shotley Bridge.
Then, of course, they had to be hilted; in the case of SB only a small exclusive percentage were given to the village Wilson family who had engraved and hilted for many previous generations.
Some also went to Thomas Carnforth the Newcastle cutler and he would employ the services of Newcastle goldsmith John Sandford when necessary. Plus, they needed a sheather and a belt maker: they were usually supplied by a Gentleman's outfitter/tailor.
This did not happen overnight obviously.
However, Kalmeter (Swedish industrial spy) noted that in 1719 the production capability of SB was 21,000 per year, but as I said, this produced finished blades pre. hilting etc.
Chests of blades alone were shipped to The Tower and (then agent) Cotesworth's accounts detail one such shipment of 19,200 blades between November 1710 and August 1712. This amounts to a production of c.34 blades a day assuming Sundays were free. The cost was 1 shilling a blade.