I'd like to get some steel or iron for small projects like pins, brooches, pen knives, needles, maybe even a few leather punches. Are there any scrap yards or metal supply shops that are friendly to hobbyists looking for a foot or two of bar stock? The watchwords here are 'local' and 'cheap'.

I think Discount Steel usually has miscellaneous offcuts laying around that they'll sell to you, so you can avoid paying their cutting fee for small pieces.

Discount does have a selection of odd bits, they would be the first choice. (Washington Ave north of the Loop Area)

Otherwise it depends on the metal you want, steel and Iron there are a bunch of shops that go from large job industrial to hobbyist. (Most places will take a order for cash at the will call desk)

Then there are the Jewelry and other supply shops that have large markups but sell small sized bits just for this type of order.

Then there is the best of all IMO, Freecycle, Craigslist Free, etc. Found and reused items are a great source, but there are limits to supply.


So if the metal talks to you, or you want to tell the metal what to do... You have many options locally, but I think you need to give a better hint at what you want to do.