John Rumm wrote:
chudford wrote:
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?

These can make a decent job of it:

http://www.makitauk.com/index.php?ca...pen=93&page=36

http://www.mtmc.co.uk/product.asp?co...2&P_ ID=39589


They have a drum shaped brush (IIRC there used to be a range of them
depending on how aggressive you want to be)

http://www.tool-net.co.uk/p-333727


But how close to the ceiling could you get? I imagine they're built like
a planer, which would leave the most difficult bit untouched.