I used to sharpen my straight-knife planer blades, planing irons, chisels, and knives with whetstones / water stones. It was too big of a pain in the ass over time, so I switched to diamond stones.

Biggest advantages is that you don't need to pre-soak them and diamond stones don't develop a valley / have to be flattened.

if you plan on getting into sharpening I would just start with a coarse, fine, and extra fine diamond stone and a leather strop w/ stropping compound.

Same advice - don't use the soaking stones. Nowadays they are plenty of decent quality diamond stones (or ceramic ones)