On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 10:23:43 -0700 (PDT), chudford
gently dipped his quill in the best Quink
that money could buy:

My Daughter has just bought an old house with oak beams that have been
coated in thick black paint/varnish.
Is there any way that they can be stripped back to the original wood
surface in situ without wrecking the surrounding ceiling?

You will get plenty of advice on uk d-i-y, but another good scource is
http://periodproperty.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=1


Mike P the 1st