Refurbishing Knotty Pine

I’m looking for ideas on refinishing 45 year old Knotty Pine.

Currently I have a 700 sq. ft. cottage on a small lake in Northern Michigan. Over the next year and a half I hope to turn it into a 1500 sq. ft. home. I would like to save some of the Knotty Pine walls. I’m not looking for a Rustic look, still I want it to look like it belongs in “The Great White North”.

The original structure is 1 1/2 inch thick Knotty Pine. It was put out buy a local mill up there, I don’t think they sold many. The walls were never smooth planed and probably not as dry as they could have been. The boards are a little rough and sap continued to come out of some of the knots for years. Now it is dry but there are bubbles and runs of sap in places. I believe the wood was coated with Linseed Oil. It has dried out and in a few spots is even starting to gray slightly.

Over the weekend I took of one of the interior doors and started sanding. The paper clogged up real quick and it took over two hours to sand one side. I can’t imagine sanding several walls. Also as I sanded I ended up with old finsih in the planer marks which meant I need to sand it quite smooth to get it consistent. If I do that I lose all the color “patina”, which would be a shame.

I am thinking about trying a solvent to remove the finish and probably use steel wool in hopes of smothing the walls somewhat as I go along. If that doesn’t work it would seem my only alternative would be to sand and refinish.

I know a contractor would just cover the walls, the labor cost for what I want done would be ridicloulous. Well I want to save some of the look and I have more time than money (and not much time).

I would appreciate any suggestions.

What would a good solvent be to try striioping off the finish?

Am I missing any other options?

Suggestions on Finish.