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Last time I was in on a major wood stripping project, I believe we used Bix, on old varnish, and it worked really well. But it's a petroluem base, so not something you'd want in the house. Possibly not even in the garage....
There's some stuff called, I think, Citri-Strip, or similar, that is water based, and much less apt to burn a hole through your leg. Smells powerful of that citrus smell cleaners have today, but won't actually cause your lungs to eat themselves.
You got a real hardware or paint store handy? For your first project, it might be worth a few extra bucks for some primo stripper, just to have somebody close that knows what they're talking about.
When it comes to scraping tools, be creative with what you have around the house; the kitchen is a good place to look. A friend was stripping some cabinet hardware, and her weapon of choice was a 79cent, plastic handled, throw-away paring knife that she'd got at the drug store. (My most favortist putty/spackling knife is an old icing spatula thingy.) If you have small nooks and crannies to clean out, you want something small and easy to handle.
However you proceed, start with a small, less obtusive area, while you get a feel for how whichever product you use behaves.
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