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What would you do? At our lodge we have a few beams (actually hewn looking pine wraps) that were stained a very dark walnut.
We want to lighten the look, but I don't want to end up with just paint.
Any ideas about how to lighted the stain to a more honey oak look and keep the wood texture you get with stain?
You are asking a lot I hope you know.
First thought is to go after the wood with a belt sander and grind off as much of the stained portion as possible and then follow up with some form of woodworker's bleaching agent.
But then you would lose the rough hewn look by sanding and bleaching would only make the wood look splotchy.
Have you considered an overlay of clean wood atop the original beams?
You could get double-sawn 1x board stock to keep the rough look and could stain it from scratch for your decor effect.
Sandblast. You can use media beside sand, like walnut husks, or other organic media that is less harsh than sand.
Have you considered an overlay of clean wood atop the original beams?
Parvo's got the best idea yet. I have the same issue with the beams in my house. This is what I will eventually do.
What type of stain was used? If it was oil based (deep penetrating) you'll have a tough time getting it off, and getting the new stain to set in and cure.
Also, I'd recommend cob blasting instead of sanding it off. If you want the wood texture, you can also raise the grain by cob blasting - gives it a unique finish.
Having stripped and refinished a LOT of dark stained trim in my house I will say you can definitely lighten/remove that stain with chemical strippers and wire brushes or scrapers - however you don't really want to breathe that shit. You'd want to be living somewhere else for a little bit. Of course sand blasting it would be really messy, too, but like froman says you'll keep/get a rustic texture. Overlay is easiest and cleanest except leaving them the way they are.
I just re-read your post and it sounds like that's what you have now('pine wraps'). You could always remove the boards and make the mess outside if you want to go as cheap as possible; otherwise I'd just use new lumber. There is a good chance you could pull the boards and turn them inside out so you have clean new wood to work with and won't have to buy much new if any.