What’s the point of “Smelt [slot] weapons”

team-fortress-2

Team Fortress 2 has the following lines in Crafting Items menu:

  • Smelt primary weapons (2 of the same primary weapon)
  • Smelt secondary weapons (2 of the same primary weapon)
  • Smelt melee weapons (2 of the same melee weapon)
  • Smelt class weapons (2 weapons used by the same class)

All these produce 1 Scrap Metal.

So, why are the first three items needed, if 2 of the same weapons are always used by the same class anyway?

Best Answer

If you go back and have a look at the old version of the wiki page linked by @The Annoying Pyro, there is an explanation there:

The Smelt Class Weapons blueprint was originally one Primary, Secondary, and Melee weapon of each class, but was then altered to allow any 3 (now 2) weapons from the same class, to accommodate the Engineer, Demoman, Spy, and at the time this change was made, the Sniper. This has made the blueprints marked with a dagger superfluous.

I'll try to find out why this was removed from the article.