I am happy with the following for speed, lack of mess and relative expense:
1) Grinder with frillable wheels and nice platform like the Wolverine jig. I have the woodcraft 8". I use it for both turning tools and chisel's/panes. I would prefer a separate 6" grinder to give more of a hollow grind for chisels etc but that will have to wait.
2) Medium Sypderco ceramic stone: I use this to remove light nicks and to flatten the backs of irons. I also sometimes use 100 grit sandpaper on MDF clamped to my jointer for flattening the backs of irons.
3) Fine Sypderco ceramic stone (the bigger one): I use this for honing.
I have a Veritas MkII honing jig but I rarely use it. The hollow grind makes it pretty easy to free hand hone. And very often I can go from the wheel straight to the Spyderco fine stone with nothing in between.
I started out with sandpaper on granite using a jig. This works but was painfully slow. I have no desire to go back to a flat bevel. It is just too much metal to work.
From there I went to Oil Stones to move away from the sandpaper and to learn to free hand sharpen. At first they seemed to cut pretty well but after a while they became too slow. But this experience did teach me that not all of my tools need to be atom splitting sharp and it is a waste of time to try. It is better to have all your tools pretty sharp all the time then to have a couple that are amazingly sharp sometimes.
Eventually I started turning and picked up a grinder for lathe tools. I tried it out on my plane irons and chisels and then all of a sudden sharpening was much, much easier. Having a hollow grind is great!
Finally I added the Sypderco stones. They cut fast, haven't clogged/slowed down on me yet and they are not messy.
Good luck with your quest but don't rule out a grinder!
Salem