I would reverse engineer your buying plans and think about how you usually sharpen and to what grit. I have free hand sharpened since I was a kid starting in the early 60s, and it took somewhere around the 2000s for me to realize that not all steels perform well to really high grit sharpening. So look at the steels on your knives and ask yourself, am I really going to need to shave with my knife? If you enjoy sharpening and a mirror bevel edge is what you like, go for it! Freehand sharpening to get a mirror edge (in my experience) is almost impossible.
That's a pretty good selection of stones you have in your list, but buying good ones can cost a pretty penny. Good stones will last a lifetime with care, but are pointless if you don't need them. So (for example) if you are now sharpening to 600gr and then stropping, you can get rid of the last couple of stones. Personally, I sharpen all of my knives to 1200, then strop if needed for my pocket knives. For my work knives, that seems to be the optimal grit. Works well for my kitchen knives, too. I have a friend that sharpens freehand with a homemade belt rig out of the back of his converted mail truck. He says that he sharpens to a very smooth 600gr for all his chef knives (some cheap, some expensive) and depending on the knife about 800gr for hunting knives during the season. Reason being it is easier to cut meat and skin with a toothier edge, and a not so fine edge can be brought right back up to speed with a few swipes on a stone or rod.
I would also take a look at the lowest grit you have listed. If you damage one of your blades or buy a damaged knife, or have one of your amigos ask you to repair his damage, 400 is a pretty high grit to use to get rid of edge deformation, chipping and just a plain old butter knife edge. I would move that number down to about 180 grit so you can remove metal as needed more quickly.
When I learned to sharpen I started with three of my grandfather's stones. An old gray Norton carborundum stone of unknown, but aggressive grit. Then a natural stone of some grit, then a natural stone of higher grit probably an Arkansas stone, then the back of an old belt as needed. I sharpened on those for 20 years! But in the 60s and 70s, steels were generally much softer and it was pretty to see, but a really polished edge wouldn't hold under practical use. So they were a good match.
Today's steels are much harder. Sharpening some of these steels that are run at 57 - 60 Rockwell are a real labor of love on a whetstone. If you have to reset the factory bevel edge when you get a new knife or repair a damaged knife, it can take hours, literally when hand sharpening. When repairing the edge for a friend of mine, I went all the way down to 60 grit to undo damage on his Kershaw with S110V. It still took hours.
Think it through and match your stones to your steels and the use of your knives. I prefer a mix of sharpening tools these days, but since you are asking specifically about stones, there we are.
Robert
