Brent Kinsey wrote:
> Tony asks about the black on some English beech planes:
>
> The tallow being so thoroughly worked into the wood, it may not come out short
of scraping or sanding.

I will admit to my ignorance of what the black is, but IME the black built up
I've encountered on planes
here in the UK softens and comes off fairly easily using metholated spirits.

  BugBear