A lot of my knives don't have a guard, but this size and build strength is one I do like to see at least a lower guard/stop. It doesn't have to be huge, but at least more than I see here. If the knife had a much finer thiner and lighter blade then it wouldn't be put to tougher tasks. But at this level of thickness it may well be used with some welly behind. Its not some wittler.
A stop guard for poking and digging.
I like the look of this threads knife but to me it just doesn't have quite enough as a hand stop.
I know I'm out of the fashion loop. All sorts of excuses are made like the guard might get in the way of certain tasks. I've not found it the case with small but adequate guards. I'm also not impressed with the fashion of so much thickness on knives that will be used for cutting and slicing. Build a tough knife then put a guard on it.
Much of this no guard fashion is its a lot easier to make a knife without.
I've witnessed when its gone horribly wrong, and I don't want to see it again.
Here is the minimum I would want to see: