Thanks for the replies, think I might just be worrying too much about the scratches and need to just stick at it so I can get that next level of sharpness and a more comfortable shave. Sharptonn, a double arrow is a chinese carbon steel razor and I think it may be the equivalent of a gold dollar. All my stones are flat and the ones that require soaking are being soaked. The stones are a 1k/3k tojiro, 8k naniwa superstone and a 12k chinese natrual. My process is to do 40 circles on the 1k, then 10 light strokes, 40 circles on the 3k, then 10 light strokes, 10 light strokes on 8k, 10 light strokes on 12k and then 10 light laps on 0.5 chromium oxide.