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brass founder - 1820's

Proberly the most hot, dirty, labour intensive ,of the old metal business's the brass polishers did't get very old.
paul
 
My 3rd great grandfather - brass founder first, then scrap founder.
Then at age of 42 became a brass Dresser (was that a different occupation?)
Died at age of 47
 
ment cleaning and polishing I suspect, at 47 he would have been at the upper age group for these industrial workers, normaly died around 40/42yrs
paul
 
Brass was a key item in Brum. Straightening rods by rolling between a series of offset rolls may have come under the title of dressing...I am not sure. I don't know why life spans were short...living standards generally were lower than now outside of industry. My father lived to be 85 working in the brass industry all of his life...driving an extrusion press and finishing.
 
Someone working as a Brass Founder meant he was actually involved with the casting of Brass components.
Some components could be as small as a few grams to others as big as a few kilos.
Yes, someone who poured the molten metal would be at the sticky end of the process. While those who were at the finishing end would be dressing the castings, removing the sprues, runners and risers from the casting process, and the more decorative components would be polished until you could see your face in them.
A hard job for anyone.
 
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