When I redid my Savage stock I cheated and sanded the old finish off. I didn't remove enough wood to matter through the process (I was careful) so the finished product looked decent. Oh, and I didn't sand in any of the tooled areas. Just very carefully around the edges. Here's some pic's:

Before:






and after:









The last picture showing the two rifles gives you a comparison. The top rifle was in basically "new" condition when I bought it. Not a ding, dent or scratch in the stock and I doubt it had fired 20 rounds before coming to me.