I'm having the same problem I think it might be caused by the snapping to anvil mechanic that got introduced as i had 2 ingots on the anvil snapped at opposite ends which only allowed me to make a dagger blade. and the other ingot became unusable. Having said that you can still make short swords with a dagger blade but you get a funky message that says you created a dagger and one hand sword at the same time.
My suggested fix: Remove the snapping to anvil.