knew what we had to do this w/e & not been looking forward to it, not done it before but all who had gave warning 
sand blasting, one of those jobs that makes you wish you had the money to pay someone 
we’ve picked a particularly difficult one to start with, one end of the little house had been used to smoke meat by the looks of things, the beams are incased in a black coating, it cannot be scratched off with a screwdriver, its tough! luckily only two of the beams are affected
the culprit fireplace
it takes 10 bags (250kg) of the specially dried & treated sand, just for these two beams 
1 x compressor
and a load of pipes to carry sand and oxygen to mask
in action just as started, 2 mins later nothing could be seen for dust, debries & sand & its 33º 
its not a two man job but its easier as one can operate the valve for amount of sand while the other gives thumbs up, our machinery was awful, old & tired and bits falling off.
if anyone else hires one, be sure to get plenty of spare plastic panels for the helmet viewing section, we didn’t & I spent a long time with 3000 grit wet n dry 
just about managed woodwork & brickwork with 40 bags of sand, we now have a fair bit of sand to sweep up but it was worth it, even if pics dont really show it, after god knows how many years, the wood breathes once more, not gone above the joist line as it will be boarded under the joists.
Tias growing fast, muscle development is very noticeable, especially when she pulls on the lead.
Tongue mostly out!
Our build 