My hair is pretty fine and is useless for the HHT so I've never used it as a measure. As I move up through the progression I like to do a minimum of 70 laps per stone. After the 70 laps, it's just feel of when to move to the next stone. When I use the Frankonian to finish, I don't count laps at all. It's all feel. When the blade feels like it's sliding on glass, I know that it's pretty good.