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Old 22nd August 2006, 08:00 PM   #7
Mark
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There is a "middle" path, one could say, between pure tourist and a use blade, which is a martial arts blade. This could well be a daab made for use in the Thai martial art muay thai. Swordmaking is still very much a live tradition in Thailand, though there has been an unfortunate tendency to abandon tradition sword-making techniques for newer ones (such as stock removal). Most of the daab in the style of yours that I have seen are made by modern techniques, but whether strictly for tourist trade or for martial arts I cannot say. They certainly have the proper balance for use. Here is an article written by Antonio Cejunior about a visit he made to Aranyik, the sword-making center of Thailand: http://www.arscives.com/bladesign/visit.aranyik.htm
If you want information on daab generally, and pictures of other examples, try the Dha Research Index. Mostly pictures, actually.

Perhaps one of our Thai members can give some insight about where this style comes from (Aranyik is in the south, and there are other sword-making centers in the north, such as Chiang Mai).
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