A lot depends on what kind of finish you would like................mainly hand-rubbed oil finish or a urethane type finish. You can sand the stock down well with finer grades of wet sandpaper, wetted with mineral Spirits - finishing it with fine steel wool. Brownell's ChestnutRidge Military stain will give you a reasonably dark finish which you can seal up by handrubbing with tung oil or Boiled Lindseed oil............ or you can lightly finish it with a urethane product.

Check out a stock I did here:
http://community.webshots.com/album/67733500TMxLnD