Alan
I use a combination of things to sharpen my tools.
I have a bench grinder. In my case, it's a 6" high speed grinder with an 80 grit aluminum oxide wheel. I have a shop-made jig modeled on the Wolverine system to help shape gouges. The guru's say that you absolutely must use a large (8") wheel on a slow-speed grinder, but I don't agree. The difference between a 6" wheel and an 8" wheel is how hollow the grind will be - and that difference is rather small and not very important. The supposed advantage of using a slow speed grinder is that you don't remove as much metal so your tools last longer, but I think you can accomplish the same thing by learning to use a very light touch at the grinder. So as far as I'm concerned, an inexpensive high-speed grinder with 6" wheels works just fine, and its also convenient for other grinding tasks around the house.
I also have a sanding wheel that mounts on my lathe. I made mine by mounting a commercial hook-and-loop disk on a block of wood with a threaded hole that matches the thread of my lathe spindle, but it is also possible to make one from a scrap of plywood or mdf. I use a fairly fine grade of sandpaper, and I don't replace them very often (so its actually much finer than the rated grit). A belt sander would also work. Like the grinder, the key is to use a light touch.
And I have various stones - both conventional oil stones, and diamond honing plates. These are ideal for parting tools and skew chisels, and can also be used to quickly 'tune up' the edge of a gouge. I've never actually bought a stone - the oil stones I have I inherited from my Dad and Father-in-Law - so they are easily 60-70 years old. I use a lapping fluid on my diamond honing plates that I make by adding a few drops of dishwashing detergent to tap water.
The point is that you can make sharpening into rocket science, or you can treat it as just another task that has to be done in the shop, and find quick, simple, and inexpensive workarounds.
