Fearn,
I don't doubt you're right, but part of the problem is maybe we're trying to cover too much ground with the term. If, as I said, you're talking about the more overt weapons that would be owned by upper class Burmans, Mons, Shans, Thais etc that is one thing, but a Karen of Kachin blade, or even those owned some Northern Thai farmer called up to go fight Chiang Tung?
While guards on any knife are useful, many utility blades tend not to have substantial guards. Of course, there's always something like a Woodsman's Pal. On the other hand, guards can get in the way, and not just in bushes. I remember stopping in a Lahu village on a trip with some Lahu pastor friends on a trip along the Thai/Burmese border, and the village headman peeled us a cucumber using, not a dha/daab, but a big field knife about the size and shape of a Roman gladius, but single edged. He choked up on the back of the blade and held rest of the blade and handle up along his forearm. I'd have gotten a much smaller knife, but hey, they liked big blades up there. A guard would have probably complicated the peeling procedure. I doubt Naresuan or Alaungpaya did a lot of cumcumber peeling with their blades, but some of their soldiers probably did, and more of it than cutting down enemy soldiers.
One other consideration, at least further up in the hills is that in the past metal wasn't exactly plentiful so there is an economic trade off as well. It seem a lot of backwoods blades, wherever the backwoods are, lack guards, and I suspect that might be in part due to the relative scarcity of metal, and the lack of technical expertise to get the fine tuning you talk about Fearn. It would be easier and cheaper to forgo the guard and lengthen the handle.
Finally, based on the little Krabri Krabong I did, I didn't see a whole lot of pull and cut. Yes, it is there, and the style of blade certainly facilitates it, but there was also a whole lot of straight-ahead nasty full power swings and chops, stuff that looked like you'd cut through an elephant (which they had to do back in the old days). It could have just been my instructors, but I always found it a bit too open and straight ahead for my taste. One day one of my instructors, sort of on a lark, came at me unexpectedly. I hadn't told him of my FMA background, so I think he was rather shocked when I zoned to the side and ended up behind him. Even though we were using rattan practice swords I was in position to deliver a decisive blow, but he was my teacher, so I just stood there and we went back to what we were training. However, if I were outside the walls of Chiang Mai with a few thousand other guys fighting for our Thai or Burmese overlord (depending on the time period) against a few thousand invaders with hundreds of elephants, a style that pretty much cuts through anything in front of it would definitely be my choice.
Like I said, I didn't do that much training in Thai or Karen sword fighting, so someone with more experience would be great to hear from on how the blades should be used.
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