What is the size of your bout? I have been finishing on a #8 (5inch) La Dressante for a while now. That is a small[ish] stone. A lap doesn't cover much real estate. I usually do ~100 laps on water alone, starting with blade weight pressure and trying to decrease that towards the end. I get a good coticule edge that will last 12-15 shaves with my stropping. Then I touch-up the blade with a similar routine and am good to go again. I haven't yet had to step back to using slurry and rework an edge in over a year. I can assure you though, that my edges won't match Lynn's...