Sharpening: what finally worked for me

For plane irons and chisels I now use exactly three things: a coarse diamond plate for shaping and flattening, a fine waterstone for the final edge, and a leather strop with green compound.

The primary bevel is ground at 25 degrees and only touched when the edge is chipped. Day to day I just hone a small micro-bevel at about 30 degrees, which takes a minute.

The biggest improvement was learning to feel the burr instead of looking for it. If there is no burr along the whole width of the edge, it is not sharp yet, no matter how shiny it looks.