RSorder OSRS: Ticks govern everything
Once you understand ticks, weapon speed suddenly makes sense. A whip attacks every four ticks. A blowpipe every three. Godswords are slower. That's why high max-hit weapons can deal less damage over RuneScape gold time - their attack cycle is longer.
And here's something many players don't realize: if you switch weapons mid-cycle, you still have to wait for the previous weapon's delay to finish...