Buxton Finish

Buxton finish is a wood treatment applied only to Cheesewood. In common use during the Middle Ages, carpenters applied sour milk to the wood grain before honing it with lint, soaked in pigs blood. The finish renders the wood smooth to the touch and slightly red. The Buxton title to this finish has no relation to the English town of Buxton, although legend has that after the Black Death, of the village of Buxton’s 231 carpenters, only one survived and took the practice to other villages. His name is lost to history although his origin is not; the Buxton name became forever linked to this type of wood finish.