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What was a brass tap dresser?

Blacksmith

Blacksmith

master brummie
At one stage, one of my ancestors was shown as a brass founder, but later on his occupation is brass tap dresser. I've tried without success to find what this involved, so has anybody got any idea what it was?

Many thanks
 
Blacksmith, When a casting of brass or any other metal comes out of the mould it has rough pieces of metal which have to be taken off before the final polishing is done this process is called fettlelng so i think your ancestor was brass tap polisher.Len
 
Blacksmith, one of my ancestors was also a brass founder, then moved onto tap ploishing, which as lencops sys involved polishing the cast taps to a smooth finish - it was quite a task sometimes as there was a lot of excess brass suck to the castings which had to be rubbed off without damaging the rest of the tap! He later went on to be a brass bell turner.
Sue
 
Many thanks, both of you.

So, correct me if Im wrong, dressing, fettling and polishing are the same thing really, and it's the final stage of the brass process.
 
View attachment 62139I know this picture shows an aluminium casting and not brass.To dress it would be to remove all rough edges(usually with a file) prior to polishing.
This is my understanding of dressing.Moss.
 
Blacksmith said:
Many thanks, both of you.

So, correct me if Im wrong, dressing, fettling and polishing are the same thing really, and it's the final stage of the brass process.
Click to expand...
Blacksmith, Not the same thing #1 casting, #2 fettling and #3 polishing and then you have your polished tap. Len.
 
Ah, I understand now, Len.

And Moss, your photo shows me exactly what was needed.

I've been interested in genealogy for over forty years and, apart from the obvious enjoyment of 'the hunt', this is something else that makes it all so fascinating. You can learn so much and it helps to put 'flesh on the bones'.

Again, thank you all very much.
 
One of my first jobs was in the brass industry making, mainly brazing, brass gas light fittings for caravans and for homes in the brush that had no electricity. The lighting was controlled by a tapered brass tap, sometimes with a chain, that had to be ground in or dressed so that it would turn on or off without any leaks. This dressing was all done by one very experienced old man as the safety of the device was totally in his hands.
 
Hi Blacksmith,

I believe the rough protrusions from the casting process as shown in
Mossg's picture, were known as the sprue.

Kind regards

Dave
 
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