Thanks for all the replies!
Regarding flattening stones, I use a the Norton flattening stone to dress my stones. I think it is carborundum and works well. I expect that I may need the diamond some day for my harder stones. I have dressed my 220 stone and will no longer use it for backing off plane blades. One curious note about flattening one stone off another-I think this naturally results in a concavity-this is basically how telescope mirrors are made.
I certainly like the glass idea with Si carbide paper. I ordered some paper today and will try this. (I have used belt sanders to dress plane soles but never sanded the blades.)
I checked the Harbor Freight catalogue and it indeed has a few interesting machines. Seems like 40 years back there were quite a few sharpening machines at reasonable cost. I was surprised taking a look recently-there are very few machines out there. (Also I was surprised at how many plane makers names no longer appear in the catalogues). I would hate to have to equip my shop today. The Harbor Fright (;->
horizontal sharpener would probably be quite useful for 100 bucks. (didn't know about the coupon thing).
Thanks again- Fritz