One of my customers bought a tin one-handed sword for $22. In the purchase history list, the sale was only for a "one handed sword" (no material). That $1k of lost materials really hurt that early in the game, but I've since recovered.
The one-handed sword in question had the type 3 blade (hit twice while hot, with the hole in the middle), a fancy grip and the guard. I didn't give the sword to the person in any particularly unusual way. You might want to look into this if it wasn't a once-off weirdness.