I also have steamed out individual dents with or without finish over them and with good success. However, on a complete refinish job (and I did this often with WW 2 guns like the M1 Garand) I stripped the finish and then put the whole stock in the dishwasher on the "Pots and Pans" cycle. Between the hot water and the heat to dry dishes, the stocks come out clean and ALL the dents are raised. The stocks are then sanded completely and refinished. Unless the wood fibers are actually cut, or a chunk of the wood is just missing, I have always been amazed at how well this works. Of course, this wouldn't work for a longrifle stock (unless you have one heck of a big dishwasher) but for shotgun stocks, it would work great. Just a thought.