Restoring oak.

Sandblasting is a great way of ripping out the softer parts of the grain, while leaving the harder parts raised and roughened - if that's what you want then go ahead, but it should never be considered for "restoration" purposes.

It certainly would.

Skarsten don't do big scrapers. Sandvik do _big_ scrapers.

Friend of mine has a panelled room (sloped ceilings too) in a building which was allegedly built as a dairy. But it's either a Welsh priest-hole or else it was built by someone who normally did Chapels (and very finely he built it too). Now scraping the flat surfaces of that really was hard going - tried everything on it he did. In the end he got very attached to one particular top-end model of Sandvik scraper.

Sandblasting is the only hope. In situ.

Not that expenisve - a few hundred only - use calcium carbonate for wood. Helluva mess afterwards. Strip area of EVERYTHING and expect to hoover ten times or so.

See yellow pages

If dismantled, caustic may work.

After blasting, it will be grain etched. Sanding will help for a newish look, or leave it etched for Ye Olde Worlde look.

I had it done on some new ones after stupid builder painted thick varnish on them..

Came out well, but heavily grained. No trace of varnish left anywhere.

Thtas why we used calcium carbonate. Not sand

It did etch, but that merely made the beams look older -

I agree, on delicate carvings, its a nono,but on flat old paneling, it will work.