When all is said and done about sharpening, there's usually a lot more said than done.
Sharpening is actually fairly simple, but like a lot of simple activities, it can take a bit of practice before it 'clicks'. Once it does click, you're away; you'll get workable edges without much effort - but you'll get better and better with practice.
Two books often mentioned are 'Sharpening: The Complete Guide' by Jim Kingshott, and 'The Complete Guide to Sharpening' by Leonard Lee. I think both are out of print, but you'll find copies on the secondhand booksites such as
www.abebooks.co.uk at sensible prices.
If I were starting again, I'd buy a combination oilstone, 8" x 2" coarse/fine (Norton do a good one), a tin of 3-in-1 or similar thin oil (paraffin if you can get it), and a tupperware-type plastic box to keep it in. If you want to use a honing jig with it, that's fine - personally, I hone jigless because it works OK for me. For grinding, I'd snaffle a hand-crank grinder from Ebay (if you can get a 6" one, great - replacement wheels will be easier to obtain - but don't worry too much, you'll have to do an awful lot of grinding to wear a wheel out). Later, if you want really refined edges, make a strop from a piece of leather glued to a piece of wood and dressed with jeweller's rouge, chromium oxide paste, Solvol Autosol metal polishing paste or similar very fine abrasive. A perusal at Youtube as suggested above will indicate how to use these three techniques. With a bit of practice (and it does need a bit of practice), you should be able to maintain decent edges quite easily, and this set-up will do you for most chisels and plane irons, and other bits and pieces like scrapers, marking knives and so on.
That's probably the least expensive way to get started. But - that's just my answer. If you feel you want to do things different, that's fine! There are many, many ways to a workable cutting edge, and the only 'right' one is the one you're happy with, and works for you.
