Tony asks about the black on some English beech planes:

St. Roy discusses the dark, sometimes black patina on English planes on a couple
of The Woodwrights Shop episodes and explained it was from years of being wiped
down with tallow and then being handled on a daily basis during use.  This was
done to protect the planes from drying out and cracking. The tallow being so
thoroughly worked into the wood, it may not come out short of scraping or
sanding.  You may just want to consider it honest patina from real working
planes and craftsman's hands.  I would just take a conservative approach and try
using a cotton rag and some mineral spirits.

$0.02

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