You guys have some great applications!

I have noticed the older I get, the softer more parry like my blocks become. Redirect and counter.

For me most blocks are just blocks

I can agree and disagree with some of this ... but that is the nice thing about forums.

For the haymaker there are more then just the block/strike. You have to step into it with your body or at least limit the blow with the block. And by limiting the blow you are striking with your block and hard. A smaller person can do this as well.

All blocks you are taught to snap it out. If it is a knife hand block you snap the wrist thus providing force. When hitting another person's hand out of the way it does hurt especially when they are not expecting it. Now think in the way of a strike and do the same thing. I'm not just blocking this with a snap ... I'm snapping it and striking their hand away. Anybody of any size can do this.

As for blocking a kick, a kick is always going to win. If you can avoid then do so. If not then step in and block and punch. Thunder his leg with a block/strike and thunder him with your fist to his solar plex. Or if you can scoop his leg while thundering him into the solar plex and then kick his leg out from under him or just run him over.

Basically I'm saying if you are blocking don't think of it as a block otherwise all you are doing is sticking out an appendage. In stead throw it out like you mean it. Meet it head on with force. Snap it out ... strike it out ... and following it up with something.

You are still meeting force with force. I don't think that's a god idea for a young woman to do to a 220lb man,do you? If you are similar in size maybe,but you are still leveling the playing field instead of taking advantage.
IMO the block then punch scenarios are bad applications for the breakdown of any forms. Parrying and avoiding are much better suited for addressing punches and give you the advantage. If someone throws a punch and you block it forcefully what stops him from punching with the other hand? You would just be standing there blocking over and over.

Double shuto (knifehand block) - This move usually comes back first then both knifehands are thrust forward. One application for this is an attacker punches you follow the punch back while stepping forward and strike it toward you with the knife hands (two hands/arms against one) just up from the wrist and the middle forearm (that's the back motion) Then the double knifehands strike forward on the neck and or middle bicep. Attacker will be incapacitated from the blows. Trust me this is an effective appication for this 'block'.

I think you are misunderstanding Dereck, Sanchin. When Dereck say he thinks of a block as a strike, then he means that you do not meet the attacking punch etc, head on, but instead hit it from the side. This way you are redirecting the power of the strike to the side of your body, therefore the force is not on your blocking tool. If you block with enough force then you should hurt the attacker's limb.

This in itself is not that useful, since the limb will still be usable, just bruised. When blocking kicks, the simple blocks, i.e. downward blocks and low blocks, IMO are last resorts, if you cannot evade fast enough. The best thing against kicks is evasion, or a grappling technique, things which are not implicitly a part of TKD, although I'm sure they form a part of many schools' syllabus.

I think the applications for blocks are endless; I also think that the basic method of blocking, taught at lower levels of tkd, is a bit restrictive. If I were to block, I would want to do so because it would put me in an advantageous position, not because I wanted to avoid a strike: that is what evading and guarding is for. I particularly like using blocks to change direction of a fight. An outward block with a step to the other side can open up the whole of an opponents body to counter-strikes. These "parries," where blocking is combined with movement can be very effective.

Overall though, I do not see much value in blocking as a method of escaping a strike.

Supremor,
For the most part I agree and you've made a good assessment of blocks for self defense.

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Overall though, I do not see much value in blocking as a method of escaping a strike.

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I don't either. That's the point I was trying to make without saying it. they are not for strikes,they are for grabs,chokes,etc.....grappling in forms.