Abstract: An appliance is disclosed for dressing the working surface, e.g. tip, of a soldering iron. A housing of chemically-stable material defines a treatment chamber with an access opening through which the tip of a soldering iron is received. The treatment chamber is partially filled by a packing which in the disclosed embodiment includes Teflon shavings carrying a cleaning agent including ammonium chloride. The insertion of a hot iron results in the vaporization of a quantity of the cleaning agent as well as some scrubbing action by the packing with the effect that the tip of the iron is effectively dressed, removing oxides and foreign particles while leaving a coating of liquid solder on the tip at an operating temperature.