YOu probably will have to remove the finish to take dents out of a finished stock. Use a very damp cloth over the wood, and then use a heat source- an iron, or soldering iron, or even a heat gun( for removing paint). It often takes multiple applications before you see the wood begin to lift.
Using steam to remove dents will almost always result in raising "whiskers" in the wood, which then must be taken off with a scraper. Then refinish the stock.
Most shooters leave the dinks, and scratches as a testament that the gun has been used, and well loved as a tool for hunting. Many hunters can tell you a story that goes with ever dent or dink or scratch to the stock and barrel. There is Nothing wrong with owning a gun that has dents and dinks in the stock or scratches on either the stock or metal parts. They do tell stories.
I do know men who have had guns for 20 or more years who decide to baby their favorite guns by refinishing them- both metal and wood. That is the time to take out the dents. :thumbsup:
I worked on the stock of an OLD, Well-used, Winch. Model 52 target gun my brother in law bought from the store at Ft. Leonard Wood, back when he was in the Army reserve in the 1960s. The base was selling off these old guns- bought for training soldiers back in the 1930s-- so that they could buy new guns that didn't have worn out barrels. Gene put parts together to make up the best rifle he could from the parts, and brought the wreck to me, after I married his sister. It had serious dents, scratches, as well as hundreds of shallow dinks in the wood, and the metal was almost devoid of its parkerized finish. I spent three days steaming Deep dents and scratches out of that stock- never sure just what kind of success I would ultimately attain. I was just stubborn, and kept at it, convinced I could win that battle with enough time. I did.
The stock I refinished and returned to him was so much better, and retained only a gray outline of a scratch near where the bolt handle notch was located, that my BIL hardly recognized the gun. It was another 20 years before I worked on a stock that was in even worse shape, and had an even greater satisfaction when I returned that gun to its owner.
I currently have another surplus rifle in m possession with a stock that is in terrible shape. I haven't decided whether to leave it "as is", or to refinish it. I'd rather leave it "as is", because refinishing the stock is not going to contribute much to increasing its value, while leaving it in its present condition lets me- and others who see it-- wonder what kind of tales it could tell if only it could talk. :wink: :hatsoff: