For those who are just getting started and have reservations about investing fairly large amounts of money in sharpening stuff, I will relate my experience that may change your mind about where to spend your money.
Heretofore I was not a big fan of hand planes. For one thing, I only had several poor quality planes, the performance of which was not greatly improved no matter how sharp the blades were. Secondly, after I started honing my jointer and planer blades to 4000, it seemed my need for planes was greatly reduced as I can run the most difficult woods through them with zero tear out. The first inkling that I might be wrong was after I bought a LV jack plane which was so superior to my old Stanleys that I could hardly believe it.
Then began my journey into sharpening though I was still skeptical of what I considered the "obsessions" with scary sharp I read on this forum. I did not invest in a half dozen $100 stones nor $500 electric machines, rather I went for thick rectangles of glass obtained by dumpster diving and then cut to size. I went for wet sandpaper up to 1000 followed by micro finishing paper to 0.5 micron equivalent to 9000 grit, along with the Veritas honing guide and grinding jig. This achieves a degree of sharpness that will rival the most expensive set up, at a much more modest cost.
This, of course has led me to upgrade all my planes, having gone from six down to only four since that is all I really need. They were all downsized, too, as I no longer needed my large 17" jack when the 10" smoothing plane will do just as well. Smaller and much easier for me to push.
So all you obsessive sharpeners out there, you have made a convert for I, too, am obsessed with scary sharp and for a very good reason: the quality of my work in only a few months has improved dramatically, has become more detailed and intricate. Not only that, but the time I spend sharpening saves me even more time on the amount of time spent on finishing, the hours spent with sandpaper and scrapers trying to remove tear out or plane gouges.
Today I can create shop sawn veneered panels that are as smooth as a piano top; yesterday I could not because I could not plane multi-directional grained woods in mosaic patterns to make the panel flat. I had to resort to long board sanding which is tedious, tiring and time consuming.
That is my story on sharpening and good hand planes and this is all something that I should have done many years ago, but due to sheer stubbornness, did not. That was a big mistake. If you're serious about wood working, you'll do well to make this investment early on and save yourself all the trouble I went through.