Hi everyone,
I thought I would come in with an update. I ended up getting the Chicago Electric tile saw and the Wen knife sharpener. I bought a MK Hot Dog diamond blade and so far it is working great! The biggest problem that I have had is with clamping. However, with a bit of experimentation and a lot of research, I have created some good methods that have helped to reduce saw marks while also ensuring I don't lose any fingers. The water pump on it is fantastic and does a great job of keeping everything clean and cool. After I have recouped some of my investment money, I'm planning on picking up one of the Agate Kutter blades as suggested by irockhound.
I rigged up the knife sharpener so that I can use flat lap discs on it and thus far, they are working quite well. But this is mostly just for getting to polish. As far as grinding, I have found it to be too slow as Slabbercabber said. I bought some grinding bits for my rotary tool though and they are doing the trick. I also made some felt wheels and loaded them with diamond paste to get to the higher grits and then take the leather wheel and drizzle a slurry of water and aluminum oxide on it. I've gotten a pretty good polish on some of my pieces but I'm still working on getting that mirror shine.
I admit that it's surely not the best or most efficient set up, but it's doing the job to take a bit over fist sized raw pieces and getting them to the reasonably well polished pendant pieces. For larger raw slabs that I have acquired, I've been using my cordless drill with diamond sanding pads that are used for marble. These, along with a spray bottle, do a good job for those large pieces that I can't really fit onto the machine.
Hope this helps someone and just let me know if anyone has any questions. Thanks again for all of the advice.