first off, this site is amazing thank you to everyone involved. My issue is twofold . carpet was glued down on wood flooring probably before i was born the glue covers about 70% of the floor is black and tarry but the wood looks beautifull were you can see it. the glue scrapes off with some elbow grease and a putty knife. this will take a very long time. Is there a better way such as to just sand or a more effiicient tool and what if this stuff has asbestos in it? Thank you in advance . And thanks again for this site

Sounds like an asphalt mastic. IMO, scraping is the safest way to procide. Use a larger paint style scraper instead of a putty knife. Chemicals are flammable and dangerous to use, plus messy and will soak into the wood. Sanding will create a gummy mess on the tools. Sanding is faster. If you sand, use a buffer with a stripper head. It will trash the wood floor though and you will need to refinish that. Drum sanders will work but you'll need to tape the wheels and do a throrough cleaning afterwards. You are finding out what all us pros know; wood flooring is HARD WORK!