Valois et Valois was a machine shop on rue Notre-Dame in Montreal that was named after brothers Ernest Valois and Rolland Valois. Between 1932 and 1951 this firm made a mid-sized commercial-duty spindle shaper. The sophisticated fence for this shaper was sourced from Swedish shaper manufacturer Maskinfabriken WACO.
Information Sources
- We first heard of this maker in 2008 from a used 1.25" shaper seen for sale in Quebec. A web search failed to turn up any information whatsoever.
- Used shaper for sale. A photograph of the cast name plate reads, "Manufactured by / Valois & Valois / Limited / Established 1922 / Montreal Canada".
- A 1946 issue of Official Proceedings of the Canadian Railway Club lists member "Vaillancourt, P. E., Foreman, Valois & Valois, Ltd., Montreal."
- 2019 Hebdo Rive Nord article on a local musical group has a reader (Louise Valois) comment that names the founders of Valois & Valois: Ernest Valois and Rolland Valois. Translation follows.
What are the names of your biological parents? If your father is Jean Valois, son of Ernest Valois, the latter being my godfather...I am the daughter of Rolland Valois, brother of Ernest. Ernest and Rolland founded Valois et Valois, a machine shop on rue Notre-Dame...
- Site member T. Wagler uploaded photos of a Valois & Valois spindle shaper. He also provides the results of some research he did: "From the Canadian Census records, the company can be found listed starting in 1932 and carrying on until 1951 as a company in the Machinery Industry category and were located at 639 Notre Dame St. West, Montreal, Canada. This category means that they produced a line of commercially sold equipment. They pop up again in the Machine Shop category in 1957-58 which is a downgrade into a category meaning a shop that just does one-off custom work."