I always steamed dents the way the gunsmithing books tell us... placing damp pad over dent and applying my hot iron to force steam down into the dent. Was raising dents in an Ithaca stock last week and found a better way on some stubborn dents that wouldn't raise much. After several tries, I soaked the dent with 50-50 mix of rubbing alcohol and water and then applied my damp pad and hot iron to generate steam from within the wood. Much better. In fact the only sign of some dents was the fuzzy raised grain. I even got some areas with broken grain fibers to come up almost flush. Make iron very hot and don't scorch the wood.
