[TWITHERS]

I am wondering if I should be getting more use out of my belts when sharpening a new blade. I typically use ATS-34, I run my machine in reverse and use the slack portion of the belt. I hold the knife so the belt is running away from the blade not into it. I hope that made sense. I use a inexpensive 3M 240G AO belt and I am lucky to get two knives sharpened with one belt. The blade thickness before sharpening is .015-.025 depending on the knife of course. Is this normal? Seems like I should be getting more out of it since the time spent on the belt per knife is so short. Should I be using ceramic maybe? Is my technique flawed?