Big dent SKS wooden stock

[Opinated]

Please bear with me until I get to the technical question. Bought SKS online auction. Dealt with local FFL previously unknown to me, but a friend of a family member. FFL unpacked the rifle before calling me and I never saw the packing material. So do not know who or what to blame. Big dent in the stock on the right side just above the bevel cut above the trigger. Serial on the stock matches all the other serials on the rifle.
I do have some experience with furniture steaming dents to raise them.
Not sure of the wood species of this stock. Is steaming the best thing to try?
One option is to do nothing and the stock does have some other smaller dings and a few small gouges with missing wood. Steaming helps only with dents where the fibers are not removed. This rifle will not be a showpiece, just for ordinary use.
Suggestions?

 

[madmo44mag]

On really large dents I lay a damp sponge on it for a day or two.
Damp is the key.
Let the water wick into the wood and start to swell it a bit.
Once the wood starts to swell I start applying heat.
This can take several days depending on how bad the dent is.
Be careful not to get the wood too wet all at once.

 

[Clark]

Not to hijack, but....

2004 or earlier, I bought a case of Albanian SKSs, and the stocks had been all carved up from the soldiers carving their names in them. And, the stocks were made of sapwood full of knots. I talked with some guys from Olympic Arms or something that got sent to an Armory there. They said there are no trees left there. And the parts were all hand fitted, with a course grinder.

I can see I still have two of them, but they have replacement stocks on them. I have never shot them.
One of them still has the original handgun. I should have taken pictures. I was surprised I still own two of them.

That was the only shipment from AIM that ever disappointed me. What kind of military discipline would allow soldiers to carve up their rifles?
What kind of gun collector would own them and not take pictures of the carved up stocks?

 

[4V50 Gary]

The former president of the American Custom Gunmaker's Guild was amused when he saw me using an electric iron to raise the dents. He said he just gets a torch out, heats a metal bar until it is glowing red and then waves it over the dent. The intense heat from the bar works faster than the iron.

Mind you, the electric iron is how most of us do it. As a professional gunmaker, he doesn't have the the time and wants it raised fast.

 

[Clark]

4V50 Gary

The former president of the American Custom Gunmaker's Guild

Was that Jack Belk?
Years ago I screen grabbed pics of his Mauser sporterizing.
Amazing workmanship.
When my brother is about to TIG weld a Mauser bolt handle, he asks for those pics again.

I have lots of Mausers waiting for me to work on them, but they are not going to look like Jack's.

 

[Opinated]

When I steamed dents long ago, the electric iron would be set to the hottest setting and a wet wash cloth would be placed over the dent, then the iron applied. The wood could not be scorched by that procedure. Having moisture in the wood prior to that does appear to offer advantages.

 

[waburn]

Opinated, your method is what I have used with good success.