I have been using Citristrip in my dining room to remove 80 years of paint fron the window sills, door frames and baseboards. This works fine on the paint but when I get down to the varnish, it gums up and is very hard to remove. If I don't get some results soon, I am afraid I am going to have to sand and just repaint. I really would like the wood to show instead of painting. Any ideas on how to get the varnish off easier and how to complete the project once that is done??

Unfortunately, it is often much cheaper, both from a materials and labor point of view, to simply replace wood moldings than it is to strip and refinish them.

Don't know what else to tell you from my experience if you have your heart dead-set on stripping to the existing wood but to try different chemical strippers, solvents, and abrasives until you hit on a combination that works best for you.

Personally, I would only replace such badly built up painted/varnished moldings...

Luck.

Im a painter but not much into stripping.
If you are getting down to the varnish it is gumming up cuz you got paint stripper,next you need to get varnish stripper after paint is off.Clean up pr wash off old stripper with paint thinner,let dry at least 3 hours then apply the other stripper.
Dont ask me about brands I don't do any stipping at all.(no pun intended)

You could try Gasket Remover(Permatex)from any Autozone etc.

This takes pretty much anythiing off and is fairly cheap. Hovever, I have no idea if it would damage the molding etc..

Try it on a small inconspicuous area

Brimo