Painting - Oil Base paint on doors/woodwork

I live in a old house where the beautiful wide woodworks, all the doors and windows and wainscoting have been painted with oil base paint. They have been painted so many times that if you barely bump into them, 9 times out of 10, you will knock paint off. On some of the doors, the paint has cracked and fell off. What is the best way to remove the oil base paint? I would LOVE to have them natural again but my husband seems to think it will cost a fortune to have someone come in and do it (my husband is more Tim Allen than Lowes Knows!)? Is there anything we can do that doesn't require breaking our backa or sacrificing an arm and a leg to pay for it? HELP! I'll never be happy in this house until we figure out what to do with the painted surfaces!

I'll jump in on this one. My first time to the forum.

How old is the home? You should test it for lead content before doing anything. You can buy a kit from a reputable paint store in your area. After you determine if it's lead free or not, we can discuss how to deal with it.

my best
Sonnie

Our house was built sometime in late 1800s to the early 1900s. I have no doubt that some of the paint underneath is lead based.

I was afraid you were going to say that. With current EPA regs firmly in place, you can't hire anyone to remove or disturb the paint in place without having been certified by EPA for the procedure. It's scary. You'd have to move out for starters and your husband is right, it will cost an arm and a leg. The liability to contractors is extreme. As I understand it, there's no law against you doing the work yourself, they just recommend you don't. I've done plenty of scraping and torching to remove the stuff for myself and in the past for clients. As a child, I even helped my father and grandpa make lead paint in the shop out back. Those days are gone. Recently I had a client ask me for a proposal to strip all the wood in her home. My suggestion was to replace it. Cheaper. She's done some chemical stripping on her own with good success, but to be within the letter of the law, the residue and waste must be taken to an authorized collection facility. So... she's gonna strip the mullion strips on her windows, gonna strip the doors. We're replacing everything else. It's just less expensive (due to labor) to remove the trim and nail new trim in place.
As far as the chipping paint goes... I can only recommend that you clean the areas thoroughly with detergent and water, and as a "temporary" fix, apply a coat of primer and paint to the surfaces. This is especially important if you or a resident of the household is elderly, pregnant, or under the age of 7 years. I will refer you to http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/lead/index.html it's the EPA's lead page, kinda. You can click links to your heart's desire and download PDF files for reading.
Wish I could offer more encouraging news. Forgive the length of the reply, but A) I truly do have your best welfare in mind B) I'm not known for brevity, hehe.

my best
Sonnie