I wasn't aruging that point Bruce. I was agreeing with it. I used the term beat on the guard instead of batoning. Isn't batoning driving the knife down through a piece of wood with another piece of wood? I also do that but I leave enough of the tip of the knife beyond the wood that I can beat (baton) on the end of the knife and push down on the handle with my hand. Like I said. If you're going to beat (baton) on the handle the guard needs to be reinforced. My point was not all of us will do that.