Rat Trap or Benchmade mini Griptilian 555 (556)?

I know, it is a bit strange choice. Knives are in different price categories. However, this is how my choice narrowed. I dropped quite a few knives on the way. Now I would like to know which one of them is more convenient to use.
How the knife will be used? Camping/hiking/cooking/travels and, of course, in case of emergency.
What I like in Benchmade? Well, as I understand, mini Griptilian served as a prototype for Doug Ritter's knife, therefore it has the same lock and handle, so it should be a good choice for survival. You may recommend me Doug's knife, but really I do not see much point paying twice more for a knife because it has better steel material and a bit better blade shape. Also I read opinion of people who suggest that knives of Griptilian line are more comfortable in wilderness than Sebenza.
Rat Trap. What attracts me to this knife - I can break it and get another one no questions asked. So It should be a strong knife. I will be able to use it for shooting bow to take arrows from trees (this requires a bit of prying, not healthy for a knife, but as far as I know prying is still covered by Swamp Rat). But I read a few comments that it is not that convenient knife. I would like to find out what is not conveninet, but cannot find these reviews...
Which one do you think will be better choice? And why?
Regards,

From memory, aren't you in the UK?
Is a locking blade knife like the Griptilian legal over there?

Personally I am not impressed with any replacement warranty, high end steel, video of people disembowling car doors, marketing names that would humble Excalibur and everything else the seller uses to exchange product for pieces of paper. A knife is a cutting tool, not a prybar, axe,spear,can opener, signal mirror or grappling hook.The most generous warranty in the world is of no value in a true survival or extended wilderness excursion should you break the knife. I can destroy utterly any knife on earth, including the infamous british MOD4- and I did. I don't understand the terms 'comfort' and 'convenience' either. Are we talking ergonomics? Any pictorial history of knives will have you shocked at humanity's ability to rise from tundra and savanna hunters to a modern knife forum. What was Oetzi thinking with that stupid dagger and copper axe? Danial Boone's long knife taken from a slain indian, now theres a winner and look at those Green river skinners sold by the gross in spite of awful square handles that skinned an entire species down to a handfull of survivors. I'd take a deep breath and rethink the whole knife thing. What are you carrying now? How will you improve on it with any of these selections? Are there alternative strategies to recover an arrow without using your knife? ALL KNIVES, from the Hibben fantasy monstrosities to a museum's prized Katana cut one object with deadly accuracy- your pursestrings.

Swamp Rat "Rat Trap" - S30V - $138.95
Benchmade "RSK Mk 1" - S30V - [color:"red"]$104.95 [/color]

Benchmade "Mini Griptilian 555/6 - 440C - $91.95
Benchmade "Mini RSK Mk1" - [color:"red"]S30V[/color] - $99.95


Nothing against the other knives, but the choice should be easy.

I woudn't be so sure on this one. IIRC (I may be wrong on this since I don't feel like searching swamp rats archives right now) Eric from the swamp has mentioned on the forums that the rat trap may get some questions asked about how you broke it. If you need a fixed blade than buy one. A folder has limitations that need to be respected.

2 cents FWIW

Adam

Ironically, snapping a folder trying to cut an arrow out of an old stump was what sparked my interest in knives about 10 years ago.

For your purposes, neither knife is suitable. Something with a lot of steel behind the tip (and a fixed blade) is necessary for this task, such as a CS SRK or SRKW Camp Tramp or Bandicoot. It is true that knives aren't prybars, but you can't find a prybar that will be able to cut/dig an arrow out of a tree either. These 3 knives will do this easily without any worry of damage. I do it all the time with the 3 that I mentioned. I realize that's probably not the answer that you were looking for, sorry.

Not having ANY experience freeing arrows from trees ... I was wondering if the Becker Necker BK11 would be a relatively portable option. Not a real thick blade, but still a pretty strong fixed blade that can be easily hung from the neck.

Under "comfort " I mean ergonomics. Under "convenience" I mean how easy the knife will let me do tasks like preparation of food in the kitchen (includes peeling vegetables, cutting meat, cleaning fish), carving wood and do some works like opening boxes.
Well, whole thing started about 2 weeks ago when I lost my Delica. I decided to replace it with a bit better knife.
I felt Delica was very convenient to carry knife, but not really a good choice as a working knife, it was more "just in case knife" -convenient to carry all the time, but it was not comfortable to be used in the kitchen or carving wood, or really almost any camping activity. In the office - yes, most acitivities it could do ok. So, this is where my knife had to do the job better – kitchen/field work. And I began my search.
And my wife found my Delica. But by that time I already decided to get myself another knife.
I do mind warranty though – I already broke my Delica and Wenger before and they were replaced by new ones. Actually, I like when knife is not that well built that it can break down – you get a brand new replacement just by the time when knife is woren quite well and need to get retired. So, not waste of money there.
I looked at other knives too, especially on Buck Strider, Spyderco Native, Benchmade Doug Ritter, Benchmade Pika, Spyderco Delica, Spyderco Endura, Victorinox Trekker and Camillus Sierra, Striders, Sebenza and VTech (copy of Sebenza).
The question is which one will do kitchen/field jobs better, Rat Trap or Griptilian.
Regards,

P.S.: If you cooperate with police in the UK and do not harm anybody, Police will be very polite with you and let you off. I brought my Delica to police station on the day I bought it asking if I can carry it and they said it should be ok as long as I behave properly.

I havent free'd any arrows either, but what about a cheap chissel to dig around the arrow head to to most of the heavy work, then a strong folder knife to finish.
Less strain on the folder, less chance of breaking it.

For kitchen duties thin is in even if fats where it's at. UK knife laws allow carry if you have a legitimate purpose. Obviously dressing like Cary Grant as a cat burglar will get you in trouble while a basic assemblage of camping ( repete after me, camping, not survival tools if questioned) show your cause to carry.

And at the airport, when asked about the infamous PSK, its "emergency" preparedness not s-u-r-v-i-va-l right?

You see i'm learning <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Omega I own both a rat trap and a mini ritter. the rat trap is a big knife don't be fooled by the pictures. It is a fine piece of craftsmanship that is surprisingly light and slim. As far as the warranty goes it lies in a grey zone. I believe if you broke the knife unintentionally you would be covered. Personaly I prefer the mini as an every day carry. The smaller size lies within the legal limits of our city. No one is too surprised when I pull out my mini. On the other hand when the rat trap comes out it draws unwanted attention to it. As far as digging out arrow heads I would definitely use a fixed blade. Neither of the mentioned knives is all that strong for lateral prying. Just my two cents.

Firefive

Thanks for reply, Firefive!
Could you tell me, what jobs can Rat Trap do better than mini Ritter? And what jobs can mini Ritter do better than Rat Trap? Now I see that Benchmade is better for cities and EDC.
About arrow digging: I guess I will go with Busse Skeleton Key. I do not find the blade length is really an issue for diging arrows. I agree, chisel may probably do even better job, but it is not cool (if I wanted to be practical, I would stop shooting bows competely <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />) ...
Cheers,

Omega the rat trap has a larger cutting surface than the mini so I find that it excels in slicing. The mini feels a little stouter because of the shorter blade length. Just a personal opinion. As far as digging out arrow heads the extra length and slim construction is going to put a lot of torque on the rats pivot. I would definitely go with a fixed blade for that task. They are both great blades, pick up one of each!