Well then Al, I'll just say this. I've seen mor'n a few folks run a lathe, many of whom tend to be what I'd call over cautious. Most of them usually didn't spend time with anyone who ever showed them that there's a time for roughing, and a time for finishing. Anyhow, I'd guess that you're going unusually slow on the roughing phase.
If that's the case, remember there's a couple bad things about that. One, it takes a long time to get stuff done. But second, it's actually harder on the tools. 99% of tools out there (inserts/cutters/etc) are all intended for production work. So, the proper feed and speed is usually about 10x what we do in an engine lathe. I think I'm the only person I ever knew who ran a tool in an engine lathe at a faster removal rate than what was on the label! My thoughts are, 'get that material out o there!
Inserts are intended to live for a certain number of cuts. They can be light cuts, they can be heavy cuts. The insert doesn't much care, as long as it's inside it's design spec as to how much you cut. BUT! IF you make many many many little bitty cuts, they wear the cutting edge just as much (and in some cases more) than a deeper cut.
Same applies in the kitchen with cutting veggies. More cuts dulls the knife more. Matters not how thick the onion slices are... Cutting wood and splitting it up? Cut the tree into 4" sections or cut it in to 20" sections, there's just more cuts at 4". The saw gets dull faster.
I'm gonna say that brake would have been 2 passes for me. One right to left roughing in one pass, probably all but the last .020 or so. The second I'd have rotated the tool a little more point on for a left to right pass, and back cut it for the finish. Done. Sand and forget it. Maybe a half round file at the root if I wasn't really close on picking up the brake as I came off the barrel. I wouldn't want to touch off too much or I'd have another ding to fix. So, I'd have to move the carriage right till the insert was at full cut, then move on the 15deg with the compound.
Remember, it's only the last cut that matters.