Paragon Plane Research

[Ganthan Rhodes]

I'm doing some research on the Paragon planes sold by Lee Valley and Garret Wade in the 1980's. I plan to make this available on the Web when I'm done.

I have a few of the planes, plus scans of the Lee Valley Catalog covers and Paragon pages from all years the Paragon was offered. I also have a scan of a Lee Valley "Certificate of Accuracy".

I'm looking for Garret Wade catalog and promotional material for the Paragons, plus any historical information anyone may have. I am also looking for Paragon #4 and 4C planes in good condition.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Tyler Howell]

Interesting. Keep us posted.
PS welcome to the creek.

[Ganthan Rhodes]

Thanks for the welcome.

[Dan Forman]

I'll second the welcome! I had never heard of Paragon planes. Thanks for bringing this up, will be curious to see what develops.

Dan

[Ganthan Rhodes]

Thanks for the welcome, Dan.

The Paragons were based on the Stanley Bailey design for the most part, and were manufactured to strict specifications.

Lee Valley created the specifications and Footprint of England manufactured the planes. Footprint ground off it's little footprint logo on most Paragons, but not all. (It was cast into the plane base just behind the frog).

The Paragons departed from the Bailey design on it's lever cap and rear tote. The lever cap is similar the Miller Falls 3-point design and appears to holds the cap iron and blade tighter to the frog face over a greater area. The tote is also more like the later Miller Falls design, more upright and less curves.

Lee Valley sold the Paragons in Canada. I believe that Lee Valley sold the Paragons through Garrett Wade in the USA, but am not sure of the business arrangement.

[Jim Becker]

Well...Rob Lee is a member of SMC. Perhaps he will comment.

Welcome aboard, Ganthan.

[Ganthan Rhodes]

Thanks, Jim.

I plan to contact Rob once I get more info together. I think he may have been a young guy back in the 1980s when Lee Valley sold the Paragons ... I know I was.

[Mike Wenzloff]

Hi Ganthan, Welcome. Nice to see you here.

Rob may have been younger, but he will know. Just in case he doesn't pop in for a while, his email address is in his profile I assume. If not, I'll give it to you if you don't have it.

His father will have the skinny in any case. I would even assume as he is building a museum of old tools that they even will have examples. Maybe a trip to Canada is in order?

Again, welcome.

Take care, Mike

[Ganthan Rhodes]

Thanks for the reply, Mike. Nice to see you here, too. Seems like a very friendly place.

Thanks for the offer of Rob's e-mail address. I do have it ... a reminder of the days when I was trying to convince Rob to open a Lee Valley store here in my home town. It didn't work. But they did open a new one in October 2005 that is only a 3-hour drive north. Previously it was 7 hours east or 10 hours west.

I've seen photos of the Lee Valley "Warehouse of Tools". Boy, would I like to visit there with my camera!

Regards.

GR

[James Mittlefehldt]

Thanks for the reply, Mike. Nice to see you here, too. Seems like a very friendly place.

Thanks for the offer of Rob's e-mail address. I do have it ... a reminder of the days when I was trying to convince Rob to open a Lee Valley store here in my home town. It didn't work. But they did open a new one in October 2005 that is only a 3-hour drive north. Previously it was 7 hours east or 10 hours west.

I've seen photos of the Lee Valley "Warehouse of Tools". Boy, would I like to visit there with my camera!

Regards.

GR

Where did you see those pictures Ganthan interested people want to know. The local Lee Valley store near me has old tools hanging on the wall high up and out of reach.

Oh and welcome to the site that is something that looks most interesting and I hope to hear more from you in future on this.

I recall a few years ago Lee Valley's catalogue had a whole bunch of hand planes on the cover, andI noted the Paragon and aske one of the employees about it. He did not know much other than it had been sold by them some years previous.

[Ganthan Rhodes]

Hi, James ...

Here's a pic of the Lee Valley "Old Tool Warehouse". Rob Lee posted this and several others on another forum a while ago. I'll dig around and see if I can find some more.

Regards.

GR

[Alan DuBoff]

I sent Rob a link to this thread, maybe he'll make a cameo appearance and give the skinny on Paragon planes.

And maybe he'll post a better pic of his old tool wharehouse, I've seen much better shots of planes, and his showcase has some nice pieces...Hey, I hope he's buying old tools with my money...I would have only bought more of them with the money I spent on new tools from Rob...

[Ganthan Rhodes]

Thanks, Alan.

Hopefully someone has some additional info on the Paragons, particularly the Garrett Wade ones. I have a good start on info and pics for the Lee Valley Paragons. I have virtually nothing on the Garrett Wade side of things except that I own two #5's, one smooth and one corrugated.

On another note, I have found the other Lee Valley Old Tool Warehouse pictures, plus links to them on the Lee Valley Web site. I'm not sure about the etiquette involved in posting the pics and links, so I'll hold off and hope that Rob Lee will respond.

Regards.

GR

[Rob Lee]

(snip)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Hi -

Actually - we "remanufactured" many of them here...

We set out the specs, made some tooling changes, and had Footprint make them for us (and GW). All planes were received and inspected here in Ottawa - and in many cases, fettled and reground...

We abandoned the brand shortly after - and formed Veritas tools as our manufacturing company...

I believe we have serial #'s 1 and 2 of each size kicking around here somewhere....

Cheers -

Rob

PS - if you contact me by email, I can see whatever information I can find...

[Rob Lee]

(snip)

...so I'll hold off and hope that Rob Lee will respond.

Regards.

GR

Hi -

No worries on the photo's - they're still on our server... of course, amost all of the good stuff isn't in 'em....

We're still cataloging the collection (just passed 4100 lots complete representing 11711 pieces) with a thousand or so more lots to go....

Cheers -

Rob