Where can you buy metal in small quantities in Canada?
Buy from a counter that sells by the piece, not by the stick. We cut to any length with a $40 order minimum, walk-in stores sell short pieces over the counter, and some local yards sell drops. Mills and big service centres won't help you here; they sell volume.
Why do most suppliers have minimums at all?
Because the supply chain above us is built for volume. Mills sell by the heat, thousands of pounds of one alloy. Service centres break that into bundles and full lifts for fab shops. By the time metal reaches a counter that'll sell you one piece, somebody has paid for warehousing, handling, and saw time on an order that might be worth $15. Minimums are how suppliers keep the small stuff from losing money. The trick is finding the counters where the minimum is small enough not to matter.
How small can you actually go online?
At our shop, down to a single piece at whatever length the job needs, with a $40 order minimum before shipping. No mill minimum, no full-stick rule, no "trade accounts only." Type the length in inches, the price shows up, done. One 36″ piece of 1018 round bar for a shaft repair is a perfectly normal order here. So is a hobbyist's mixed basket: a bit of C360 brass hex for the lathe, a couple of 44W flat bars for brackets, one stainless piece for the trim.
What does the $40 minimum look like in practice?
It's an order total, not a per-item rule, so you clear it by combining pieces, not by buying bigger metal. As of June 2026, a 12″ piece of 1/8″ x 1/2″ 44W flat bar runs $5.30, so that bar alone won't get there. Add the rest of the project, the brass for the bushings, the angle for the frame, the sheet offcut for the gusset plate, and most real project lists clear $40 without padding. If your whole job genuinely costs less than that, batch it with the next project or grab a friend's cut list.
What are your walk-in options?
Walk-in metal stores like Metal Supermarkets sell short pieces over the counter in many Canadian cities. A local steel yard will often sell you drops from the cut floor if you show up and ask. Both are good answers when you're nearby. The gaps: drop racks are luck of the draw on alloy and size, and most of Canada doesn't live near a metal counter at all. That's the gap shipping by the inch exists to fill, and if you're weighing all the options, we compared them honestly here.
What small-order traps should you watch for?
Three of them. First, shipping that costs more than the metal: keep pieces under 48″ where you can, that's where the best parcel rates live, and combine everything into one shipment. Second, cutting fees: some suppliers charge per cut on small orders, ours are free to ±1/8″. Third, buying long "to be safe" and paying to ship steel you'll never use: cut-to-length ordering exists so you don't have to. And if you're anywhere near Dartmouth, pickup is free and the minimum still applies but the box doesn't.
About Metals 'R' Us
Metals 'R' Us is a Canadian metal supplier in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Since 1997 we've sold steel, stainless, aluminum, brass, copper, bronze and tool steel, cut to the exact length you need. Pick your alloy, shape and size, type in your length in inches, and the price shows up right away. We ship pieces up to 96″ anywhere in Canada, with the best parcel rates under 48″, or you can pick up free at the shop in Dartmouth. $40 minimum order. Longer lengths (up to 21 feet), oversize loads, or custom plasma and CNC work? Send us a quick quote request and we'll price it for you.
Small order, exact lengths? Shop metals and build your basket.