Vanguard 692, but with Wooden Handles? (like a 192)

DrMegabyte

DrMegabyte

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Talking to my brother tonight, he said "I picked up two Model 692 Vanguards at a pawn shop. I paid $30 each. One was a rubber handle, one was a wooden handle."

I said, "Whoa there Bro, if it has a wooden handle it is a model 192, not a 692."

He looked closely and said, "No Mark, it is a 692, Date code 2010." He sent me the attached picture. I asked for better pictures including the tang stamp.

Was there ever a 692 variation with wood handles? In this picture, those wood handles do not look like the "standard' Buck wood ... but could it have been a build out? Could it have been after factory rehandled?

Does he just need better reading glasses and it is a 192? :cool: I'll post his more detailed pics when he sends them, but wanted to get "the wisdom of crowds" as they say ...

Screenshot 2025-11-29 at 21.39.09.png
 
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It isn't unheard of. But it is a nice little piece for a collector. Like a 112 blade in a 422. My pawn shop sucks for knives. They are all junk and overpriced. I asked one time why they don't have better knives. They told me the owner is a collector and all the good ones go into his collection. I was going to do a test and bring in a good knife to see how much they'd offer. I didn't but I am guessing like 20% of what it is worth, or lower.
 
I always thought the 692 was the rubber handled knife, but the May 2020 BOTM was a rubber handled 192 Vanguard s30 v blade.

Buck didn't put model # on the blade, but they did refer to it as the 192 model #.

So who knows.
I know Buck doesn't throw anything usable away and will instead make a knife out of it and sell it.
 
My brother sent the pictures I shared here and many more detailed pictures to history@buckknives.com. Buck confirmed it was a not a fake or a counterfeit and also told him:

The models 192 and 692 use the same blade. The 192 has a wood handle and the 692 has a rubber one. Sometimes, the blades get mixed in trays and operators aren't looking at the blade stamps in assembly. This one either slipped out accidentally with the wrong blade stamp, or was made this way to fill a customer order with whatever materials were available on-hand at the time. "oops" knives like this are sometimes used as warranty replacements. There is no one 'right answer' to this mystery.
 
DrMegabyte said:
My brother sent the pictures I shared here and many more detailed pictures to history@buckknives.com. Buck confirmed it was a not a fake or a counterfeit and also told him:

The models 192 and 692 use the same blade. The 192 has a wood handle and the 692 has a rubber one. Sometimes, the blades get mixed in trays and operators aren't looking at the blade stamps in assembly. This one either slipped out accidentally with the wrong blade stamp, or was made this way to fill a customer order with whatever materials were available on-hand at the time. "oops" knives like this are sometimes used as warranty replacements. There is no one 'right answer' to this mystery.
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😆
I believe you.

Roger's right.
There's humans involved.
😉
Why would buck even bother to stamp the blades then?
 
DrMegabyte said:
This did make me think, why do the two Vanguard variations have two model numbers? Look at the 110: The standard, the finger groove, the slim select the sport pro ... They all have the same '110' model stamped on the blade.
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You're right and have a good point.

The 6-- in the hundred series most has always meant a rubber handled variation.
 
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If you look at the 194 / 694 alpha knives.
There are many examples of 694s with wood handles.
 
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