Like Mr. Champoux, I wanted to learn a bit about sharpening a hand tool. I bought a low angle block plane and was anxious to get the most out of it. One of my best "finds" for sharpening instructions is at the following address:

http://www.mv.com/ipusers/gunterman/SCARY.HTM#condensed

Rather than buy a bunch of expensive stones, they have you pick up pieces of ordinary wet/dry sandpaper in grits ranging from 300, 600, 1000, 1500 and 2000. (I bought my sandpaper at the local "Pep Boys.") Glue strips of each grit to a piece of scrap plate glass or granite tile (for flatness). You then start working the blade (and the bottome of the plane as mentioned before) on progressive finer grits of sandpaper. They truly come out looking like a mirror.

I'm a beginner also, but I've tried this system and it works great.