Yep, I think you have the right image. My concern is that someone would want to hold the handle to maintain control over the knife during the striking. That would probably be okay to start with, but once the blade is into the wood, I would want to hold the handle in such a way that if the blade passes out of the wood on a baton stroke it won't drive shut with your fingers in the way. I don't know as I'd want to be holding the blade while I am batoning at all. That's like holding a nail while I am hitting it with a hammer; too easy to mash a finger. If the blade were a lot longer, then I suppose you could hold that part of the blade that is not going to contact the wood.