Almost all metal objects would be recycled one way or another. They were simply too valuable to let go to waste. If the army that won the battle wouldn't loot the field, someone else would. Because of this, lots of weapons and armor are found from excavations of old battlefields only in special cases, such as the Battle of Visby.

Using medieval technology, steel objects would not be melted down as they wouldn't remain steel but would revert to much cheaper wrought iron. Converting wrought iron to steel was an extraordinarily expensive process, requiring something close to 40 times the weight of the iron of charcoal. Instead, if presented with a steel object that was no longer desired, the smiths would heat it until it was soft but not yet molten, and then hammer it into some more desired object.