: In my opinion the waterstones cut MUCH better and put a much finer
: edge than scary sharp, but they are a bit messier and as someone
: replied earlier, you have to always dress the stones to keep
: them flat.

I agree with Malcolm that waterstones produce a better edge than sandpaper. I've recently started using the Lie-Neilsen, 2-stone sharpening method on planes, which is quick and produces an outstanding edge. There's a PDF about it on their website. In my experience, you can get a good workable edge with sandpaper, but it won't be as sharp as you can get with waterstones. If you used 4000 grit or higher paper in a stropping fashion, it might produce as good of an edge, but it seems that few sandpaper users go that far.

If you're looking for a simple way to sharpen and have some money to burn, the Worksharp 3000 uses sandpaper disks and produces fine edges. For planes and spokeshaves, you need their "wide blade attachment". I bought one for sharpening student's tools for classes. Some of the stuff they bring is in useless condition and needs a lot of material removed quickly in order to create a good edge. The Worksharp makes it possible for me to re-condition most blades on-the-spot, whereas doing it with stones would take way too long. Basically, it will handle anything that doesn't require complete re-grinding of the edge and will make them "shaving sharp". It's not as good as waterstones, but it's close.