My biggest fear is that I will somehow wear down the already faint stamps in the wood

. A while back I took an RC stock that had tons of flaking shellac and "oozed" it out by putting the stock in a garbage bag and placing in the bathroom with the shower running. What literally felt like a pound of goo remained in the bag while the stock came out quite dry (as expected). I ended up applying a few coats of BLO which turned out great. The stock was not longer sticky and the group sizes shunk considerbly once the stock took on its original dimensions. The stock also seemed much stronger after this.