Restoring Old Dutchlap Wood Siding

We moved into this home last May and the siding was Masonite hardboard siding that was crumbling away. As we started to remove the Masonite siding, we found wood dutchlap siding in really good condition underneath. We originally bought this home because we love historical homes so we instantly knew that we wanted to restore the wood siding. My boyfriend is a contractor and is a painter, but we have never stripped wood siding. We are trying to figure out the best way to go about this. My questions is:

1.) What is the best way to remove this paint? The paint is very old (we are taking all lead precautions) and it is flaking off. We have started the process of scraping it but that is going to take a very long time and for insurance purposes, we need it done by May. We don’t want to power wash it or sand blast it due to unfilled nail holes and the good possibility of damaging the wood. We looked at a paint shaver pro, but it is pretty expensive. I looked into renting one but couldn’t find that option near us.

2.) Paint or Solid Stain? We originally set out to paint the siding with historical craftsman colors but after watching a few videos, we saw the recommendation of using a solid stain as it allows the wood to breathe and won’t chip like paint. Our original plan was to use an oil based primer and Sherwin Williams Emerald Rain Refresh. Our wood is still in very good condition so we want to keep it that way and go for durability and more time between maintenance. We believe the wood is Douglas fir.