best methods for removing old finish

Here is my situation. I have 6 chairs that I would like to remove the old finish on and restain/finish in a darker color. I am looking for the best method to do this. I have so far been disappointed in my results so far, here is what I have tried.

First method was just sand them down. As you can imagine, lots of tight corners and wrong grain directions with sanding, not to mention it was a pain. I completely sanded one chair and notice a fair number of sanding marks in the final product.

Second method was to strip the varnish from the chairs and only touchup sand. This didn't really work either on the small test patch that I did, but maybe I wasn't doing it right. Seemed I could get the stripper on there, but the softened finish was still hard to get off completely and required removal with sandpaper anyway which was made harder due to clogging from the softened finish.

Any pointers or past experiences with refinishing chairs would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Stripper is the way to go. The strongest stripper is methylene chloride, but this does require care to use. Lots of ventilation, not just an open window. Stripper goes on, softens the old finish, and then gets removed with scrapers and maroon 3-m pads. It may take several coats. Sometimes covering stripper that is drying out before it works with foil or saran can help.