Steaming out stock dents

[trbon8r]

I've got a Taurus 62 rifle (replica of the Winchester 62A .22 gallery gun) that I bought on an internet deal. What was supposed to be "like new" wasn't as advertised. The blueing on the gun is beautiful and so is the stock. The problem is it looks like some idiot put the rifle in a vise at one time, and there are two identical large dents on both sides of the butt stock.

I've refinished one stock before with good results, but never had to do the dent steaming process. I was wondering how well the steaming process works on deep dents? The factory finish is some type of oil finish. I'd guess both dents to be about 1/8" deep, 3/16" wide, and about 1 1/4 long.

I was thinking about trying to steam the dents out and using one of the Birchwood Casey Tru Oil finishing kits, that come with stain, oil, sandpaper, and the works to restore the stock to new while trying to replicate an original Winchester finish if possible. Thanks for any info!

 

[lawson]

basically you cover the dent with a wet rag and warm up a soldering iron. when the iron is hot, place it in the dent. the combination of heat and moisture will raise up the compressed wood; the wood is still there, it's just packed down.

i was a guitar tech for years, and this was the same procedure we used on dents in guitar wood.

 

[dfaugh]

I use a wet rag and a regular steam iron (for clothing). However this only works if the actual wood fibers have not been broken, only if compressed. If they are 1/8" deep they may or may not come out. But it's definitely worth trying.