I was getting to the same point but all of the sudden this year I've tried a couple of knives that kick started my interest again. Lucid knives large workhorse gyuto was the first workhorse that I have liked and now its changed my thoughts on smaller knives. OEL Kitchen knives cutting ability...
I'm excited to see what you do with these. Some are not going to be fun to work with. I have redone some older guns and the amount of oil in some of the stocks is amazing.