And at the end of HoME, X, part 3, II, Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor there is a commentary (I omitted some of the parenthetical info)-
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In QS, where the matter first entered, it was said the 'the Elves had before possessed only weapons of the chase, spears and bows and arrows', but that now, under the influence of Melkor, the Noldor 'learned the fashioning of swords of tempered steel, and the making of mail' and shields. This was rewritten in LQ, still as an observation made by Pengaloo, to read that the Elves had originally possessed no weapons, and that now they learned the making of all kinds of arms, swords, spears, bows, and arrows. Similarly in AAm: 'Melkor spoke to the Eldar concerning weapons, which they had not before possessed or known'; but my father afterwards noted on the typescript of AAm: 'No! They must have had weapons on the Great Journey.' Feeling a need to explain how the Quendi survived 'amid the deceits of the starlit dusk', and concluding that they must have been armed in Middle-earth, he adopted the (to my mind) somewhat mechanical narrative device introduced here.
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Here's the "narrative device" from the text preceding the commentary-
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Now the Quendi had possessed weapons in Middle-earth, but not of their own devising. They had been made by Aule and sent as gifts by the hand of Orome, when it became known to the Valar that the Quendi were beset by prowling evils that had discovered the places of their dwelling beside Cuivienen; and more were sent later for the defence of the Eldar upon the Great March to the shores of the Sea. But all these were long unused, and lay in hoard as memorials of old days half-forgotten; and since the chaining of Melkor the armouries of the Valar also had been shut.
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I hope that is somewhat helpful.