Don Stephan wrote on Nov 8
th, 2020 at 12:03pm:
In part the answer might depend on how you intend to sharpen, and whether you can find a mentor in your area. I wanted from the start to learn to sharpen freehand, and struggling without a freehand sharpening mentor my first tools didn't last forever. Now that I understand freehand sharpening and use a Robo Rest each grinding takes off just a very small amount of metal, as would one of the sharpening jigs.
I started to cover this partially in Lee's introduction thread
A few minor points.
As with most everything tool related, it boils down to the individual.
"freehand" sharpening (or sharpening with a grinder and tool rest platform) is a skill unto itself and may not be for everyone.
Sharpening systems that use dedicated jigs cost more but have little or no real learning curve. and typically give repeatable results immediately.
As I started to mention before, you can spend as little or as much as you want on sharpening. A lot has to do with your method of work. Some people dislike sharpening of any kind while others obsess over the perfect edge.
With most hings you need to find a balance, how much you plan on turning, how much you want to spend and so on.
For my method of turning and tools I use, I have a jig based system and CBN grinding wheels. This is what gives me the results I want although this is not for everyone.
I'll second looking at the Benjamin's Best tools for starting out.
The steel is decent quality for what you pay and can get pretty far until you develop enough sense of which direction you want to go in turning/sharpening.
Kits will inevitably have at least one tool you'll never use but can be cheaper than buying individual tools to start with, that's up to you.
As you're relatively new to all this I suggest a kit, you never know what tools you may gravitate towards.
And since we all have tools sitting in drawers that we don't use, why should you be any different.