I am no carpenter....stripping the wood really showed how beat up it is...lots of dents and scratches...well for something made in 1943 it's not to bad.
First round....stripping and scrubbing..hot water, worked pretty good too.
Rinse lather repeat.
How do you get rid of dents and dings in wood? STEAM!
A wet washrag with a steam iron over the dents.....I was able to raise a few smaller ones to near invisible, some of the deeper nastier ones are still visible but not as bad as they were.
The wood doesn't look like the day it left the factory.....but about like a well used Mil-surp.