and 348 may serve as leading edge gage trimmer protectors while protective structures 350 356 352 358 and 354 may serve as trailing edge gage trimmer protectors it may be advantageous to stagger multiple protective structures proximate to the leading edge of multiple gage trimmers in that redundancy and overlapping protection regions may provide enhanced protection for the gage trimmers staggered columns of protective structures may be desirable if sufficient space is available on the blade as a further embodiment fig1 shows a blade section 124 wherein protective structures 360 362 364 and 366 are positioned at least partially within bit body element 160 bit body element 160 is similar to wear knots 70 as shown in fig1 or wear knots 170 and 172 as shown in fig5 a 10 however in addition to providing a wear knot associated with cutter 154 bit body element 160 also at least partially supports protective elements 360 362 364 and 366 bit body element 160 may substantially be exposed equally to protective elements 360 362 364 and 366 thus the bit body element 160 may be flush with the protective structures 360 362 364 and 366 alternatively bit body element 160 may provide support to protective structures 360 362 364 and 366 at less exposure than the gage trimmers 210 and 212 since a portion of the bit body element 160 may function as a wear knot associated with cutter 154 and may be proximate to the leading and trailing edges of gage trimmers 210 and 212 the topography of bit body element 160 may vary to accommodate the potentially differing desired exposures over the area of bit body element 160 further bit body element 160 may be also proximate to the side of.