Stripping

Really, i just thought that would be a funny post title. I've been sanding down the cherry wood bed frame we have that was painted over in white paint. It has taken forever to sand the flat parts and not I'm left with the intricately carved posts. I tried using paint stripper (hence the title) but it has not been very effective. On a side note, try asking a poor high school boy who works in the paint department at the hardware store for help finding a good stripper for your bed poles. Yes that sentence came out of my mouth before I realized it and it was really awkward from then on. So anyways...I discovered the paint kind of peels of in the heat, so at the moment I am using a blowdryer to heat the paint and tediously peeling it off while trying not the burn my hands under the powerful force of heat. If anyone knows of a better way, I would definitely be interested in giving it a try. Also I will need help deciding how to refinish the bed. My current debate is paint vs stain. Again..any opinion is welcomed.