How to repair dent in stock?

Damp paper towel over the dent and then just rub a clothes iron across the dent to pull it out. It does not take much so go quickly and check it. To much heat for too long and it'll be noticeable in the finish

On unfinished wood… you can steam out the dent. Wet a rag and apply over dent, the apply a hot iron to the rag. Let it steam, but don’t burn the rag! Check and repeat, don’t know what may happen to the a finished surface, so go slow.

There are videos on YT that show how to steam/iron out dents in stocks. Haven't tried personally, so have no firsthand experience to share. My brother is the stock repair person in the family, think he said he uses a damp cloth and a regular clothes iron in the process of ironing dents out...

Others more knowledgeable will be along to help more.

It's been decades now, but I remember we used to use steam irons to attempt to steam out dents on military surplus rifle stocks, or putting a damp towel on the dent and ironing it, or hitting the damp towel with a heat gun. But those weren't finely finished pieces of furniture, just oil finished stocks.

I dropped a scope on my brand new HW35E stock and put a small dent in it. The steaming method took it out in seconds and unless you look very closely you would never know

 Before:

After:

Steaming dents is the best way I have used. If you have a glossy finish? You are going to have visible finish degradation.
I am old school and prefer an oil finish on any wood. Nice thing about an oil finish is that it is easy to repair a future dent or scratch in the finish.
I use boiled linseed oil and hand rub the oil into the wood and rub it in. Lots of elbow grease but the look is worth it.

I do some piddling here and there with wood etc.. (not claiming to be an expert)...I've steamed out a few dents in stocks. As others have said and shown it can be very successful. I might throw in that the results will be better with a true "dent" where the fibers of the wood aren't broken. If the dent is bad enough to where there is broken fiber/grain then it will help but may not be as clean as just a dent. GL

You might also try using a soldering gun set to low temp. Easier to pin-point small dents. You’d obviously also want a damp rag or paper towel.

well you all taught me something new.. I figured that dents either had to be sanded or filled and sanded smooth and filler you see it in the grain.. and then of course you have to refinish the whole stock either way..
thank you for sharing about steaming dents out.. good learning something new.
Mark

While steaming the dents is the best method, be ready to refinish the whole stock. I’ve had to do it a few times.

Just a lot of work, but in the long run no big deal.

With an oil finish and not urethane. If it blushes from the steam rub out the blushed area with fine steel wool and rub in some Minwax Antique oil as directed on the can. You can do spot repairs. If you have a lot of open pores you can sand in a full coat or two to close some of that up. And improve the satin finish.