A simple way to see if there is oil in the wood,
Take a flat screw driver blade and press it (the tip & flat) down onto the wood and draw it backwards a small amt,,maybe 1/8" or so.
If there is oil in the wood, it's just under the surface and doing this little technique will squeeze the oil out.
The surface that the blade compresses will become 'wet', that's the oil. Sometimes a small puddle even forms in the tiny depression and the tip of the screwdriver is also wet with oil.
Do this in the inside of the stock of course,,in the inletting, under a grip cap or butt plate.
You can also use a knife blade held almost flat to the surface. Raise the back edge just a bit an pull it back. The edge does the same thing as above and compresses the wood slightly and squeezes out any oil if it's there.
The wider knife blade can be used on the outside areas of the wood if you don't get carried away.
But compressing small areas of the wood is doing just that. So when it comes to (re)finishing time they can show unless you are going to do some wood removal or dent raising.
Stick to the internal surfaces when testing.
Most often it's in the inletting anyway. If it's there you can figure it's also soaked in further back into the grip area as well.
