I wasn't going to chime in on this thread as I'm not sure I'm at "end game" yet. At least not as I define it. But, since there's been quite a varied response, why not?
My story may not be fully end game so much as the closing days of my experimental journey. Whatever the case, I do know my interest in new knives has dramatically decreased this year.
For me, the very first thing that needed to happen was increasing my freehand sharpening skills and gaining confidence in thinning. Before I bought any Japanese or nicer western knives, I bought new stones. Shapton Glass 500, 2k, and 4k supplemented my Nortons and Arkansas. I started by thinning and experimenting my Wusthof Gourmet's and other ubiquitous German knives I had. Once satisfied, I bought a Yaxell Dragon Fire 8" gyuto that quickly led to a Tsunehisa 210 gyuto and 165 nakiri, both in ginsan. And the fuse was lit...
I did a lot of experimenting over two or three years. I tried a variety of sizes, shapes, and steels in pursuit of understanding my preferences. While I'd long been using a western 8" chef knife of some variant, I'd always liked thinner and lighter knives and had an affection for shorter knives. But, I played with a broad variety. In short order I went from stainless only to predominantly carbon (mono or iron clad). I went hard into 165-180ish knives but then back out to 210's and mid-weights with a distinct affliction for Sanjo knives. All of that to find myself back to 165-180ish, thinner, lighter knives and a bent for nakiri.
I've owned a few customs/one-offs from just a few makers but nothing even approaching what so many here have. I found myself fond of Matt of
@MSicardCutlery and his work became my focus for that type of thing. All five knives I have from Matt are unique. He's made variants and multiples of the petty we came up with, but mine is the first. Matt's performance first philosophy, approachable prices, and easy demeanor suit me right down to the ground and I just sort of stopped being serious about pursuing anyone else.
Collecting makers isn't my thing and I don't have the disposable income to drop on many of the popular offerings. For that matter, there's a couple of the most popular makers that I wouldn't own if you gifted their knives to me, but I probably shouldn't get into that. I do still marvel at lot of the work out there and celebrate and promote it, I just know I'm not really pursuing it.
The truth is, this line up right here, has really put a damper on my knife buying:
The Moritaka on the far right is the most expensive knife up there with the rest of them being under $100. Nothing I've used, regardless of price, when taken on a whole, has outperformed these knives. I went through a lot of stuff to find these guys but now that I have, I'm pretty damn content. Excellent grinds, steel that is easy to maintain but holds up, function over form, and some of them from nearly unheard of smiths in the country-side of Japan. I don't fret over these knives. I don't care if they get scratched or marred or a touch of orange pops up. I care about the geometry and the edges.
I'll still grab knives here and there for sure and there's a couple I have my eye on but for the foreseeable future, aggressive acquisitions are over.
I did a lot of experimenting to learn what I already knew.