If you go to a motor factor or accessory shop (like the Halfords suggestion mentioned previously) get yourself a tube of Solvol Autosol chrome polish. Fish out an old leather belt or buy one from a charity shop, use contact cement to glue a foot or two of it to a flat board and spread a little of the Solvol Autosol chrome polish along the length of the leather.
Provided you don't screw your angles up you can easily stop sharpening on 600 grit and use your Solvol Autosol/leather belt strop to bring the edge up to scary sharp in about a dozen strokes each side.
Sharpening can be fun, therapeutic even, but you don't need to go through the grits into the super-fine range at all and still enjoy very sharp edges. Unless I am preparing a straight razor for shaving or dedicated wood carving knives/tools, I sharpen to 600 grit, or sometimes 800, and then I carefully strop at a controlled angle about a dozen strokes per side, and the resulting edge will pop hairs of any part of your body you care to try it on and is still aggressive enough to easily slice meat and veg which, in my book, is about the best real world test there is of a knife.
I find that if you go too far in the grit range and establish a true razor edge (or pretty near) then it's a bloody nuisance in real-world use. A super-sharp edge doesn't last as long and is often so sharp that it can slide instead of slice. Observe your butcher next time you get the chance - the edge is touched up often and not to a razor level. Granted, that is because he is cutting raw flesh, but the same rationale applies elsewhere if you adjust the level of finish you apply to the edge.
Set your edge up on grits occasionally and strop often to maintain it. I set the edge on my knives about three times a year - the rest of the time stropping is all that is required to keep them fighting fit. That means it's quicker and removes less metal, thereby prolonging the working life of your knife. That has to be a good thing for any knife, but especially if you invest any significant money in one, which a lot of folks do.
You don't fill the car with petrol every time you drive round the block. Try applying the same rationale to your sharpening.
Sharpen when your blade reaches the stage where it needs it, and strop often to maintain that edge once you get it established.
Play around with various grits and methods by all means and establish your own benchmark, but the above works well and can be done very, very quickly and easily, with less kit.
Let me repeat that, because it's worth repeating: less kit required, less time required, and your knife will last longer.
Unless my knives get dinged somehow they hardly ever need their edges re-established on stones or similar abrasives.
A strop is your very best friend; it will cost next to nothing to set up and will last your lifetime.
