Hi Duncan,
If you want to buy more than one knife, my suggestion is use Ebay and buy lightly used knives (if they are for using not collecting). All the suggestions you got from other members are good. No one wrote about Cold Steel, I love those knives, SOG is great, Benchmade is great. I am not a big CRT fan but alot of people use them. Even if you take your time and just browse knives on Ebay you will learn ALOT just reading the ads. I think you would be happier buying slightly more expensive knives, even if you have to save for a while. I started out with some pretty cheap knives and moved up over time. My last knife was an Emerson that I paid $280 for and I have rehandled it. I love that knife, but I still use my $90 Cold steel Recon 1 Tanto. Here is another suggestion. Get some catalogs. The cold Steel DVD is alot of fun and very cheap. You might LOVE the AG RUSSELL monthly catalog. it has many of the major brands in it and you will see that knives have "price points"... there is the $20-40 range, $40-60, and etc... after you read the catalog for a few months you will have a better sense of what is out there. I have a few tacticals I use. I collect Case knives. Esp the older ones. I have a few pics of them, but I need to take more pics, i have a lot more knives.
I hope I helped.
Alec

Appreciate your help here Duncan. As new knife guys/gals join iKC they will too! Any topics you think might benefit newer collectors in the Beginner Collector Group feel free to post them, or let me know.
Keep it up.
Thanks
Scott