Alan Steel & Supply

great place to pick up metal for your projects.
You won’t get much help here, so you have to come in knowing what you want to get. As you enter the front gate, the large yard ahead has a lot of their larger items. The building on the left has large/​longer metal rods, bars, plates, etc. As well as their cutting equipment. The building to the right has the smaller things, and much of their aluminum stock, including sheets, blocks, flat bars, tubes. They also have a variety of other misc metals such as computer heatsinks, military ammo boxes, nuts and bolts, gears and more. Their office window is also in this building.
Simply walk in through the gate, pick out what you want and take it to the office for the price, pay for it, and you’re done.
Prices are fair, and theres plenty of stuff to go through.

This place is great for their selection of new aluminum blocks to mill! I was happy to find that their selection is among the best in the SF Bay area.
It is located a couple of miles from the Redwood City Tech Shop (MidPennisula) just off the 101 Bayshore Freeway in a big old dusty warehouse.
I wish they gave a TechShop member discount for flashing your badge, but at least they don’t mind hackers and makers wandering around the place looking around. Just flag a staff person when you are ready to check out.

Awesome place. Good prices for steel with tons of variety. Very friendly help, at least on the floor.

Very cool place if you are a DIY person. The price is best in town. Even there are closer ones near. I will still go to Alan Steel. Friendly service all around there. Compare the one in Belmont. Their price is double from Alan Steel.

Cool place, Got everything u need to make a bomb or a picnic basket.

This place is a makers dream, and is my first «go to» place when looking for supplies. Unfortunately, there is so much cool stuff, I’ve gotten things that I’m still waiting to use.

Really nice and friendly and helpful gave them a 3 because gave them a sheet with exact measurements and got them wrong so I had to go back and get them changed but other then that great service

So, I’ve been a customer here for like 20+ years. Alan Steel has it all. As far as I know their the only ones that are as well stocked with raw materials and have a ton of interesting stuff to sort through. With all the odds & ends they have in the backyard and inside this place is a playground for us guys that love scrap & gadgets & things.
I don’t know of another place on the peninsula or south bay that can come close to their inventory. I also like that I can cut material — especially sheet steel & sheet aluminum cut to the exact measurements I need for a reasonable price. The folks working there have been there since I can remember and are always friendly and willing to help you find & cut what you need.
If you haven’t been to Alan steel you own it to yourself to swing by and check out!

I came here today for the first time, and it is as amazing as all the reviews say it is. I drove up from San Jose to get a piece of aluminum tubing for a project I am working on, and they had the exact size, wall thickness, and alloy that I was looking for. The range of sizes and materials is impressive. This place isn’t for everyone, but if you like to build stuff out of metal, you NEED to come here and check it out. Cheaper than online and no shipping, cool.
The metal scrap is also incredible, a sci fi or steam punk decorator or set builders dream come true. CNCed bits a pieces that someone spent hours making, parts of bridges and ships, conveyor lines, shelving systems, its overwhelming. Can you tell that I liked it? I will definitely be coming back to this place again, soon.

Went there yesterday they had a sign on the door — closed from noon 3 – 13 till 3 – 17
Guess I’ll call first next time…
Does seem like a goo place though from what I hear easy to drive to and good parking. Right off the highway.
Updated review to come if they open doors again

I’ve been doing business with Alan since the 70s always have a great selection and great pricing on metals, tools and hardware. If you take the time to scout around sometimes you can unearth treasures! My #1 go to place for metal supplies. I do miss the old days when they were open on Saturdays… I’m dating myself!

This place is awesome! There is no minimum to buy. I live three miles from Sims in San Jose and I drive to Redwood City to buy my metal materials. THAT tells you something right there! Thanks to Alan for his professionalism.

Two words «IN STOCK» if you need it they have it. You can take it home today. (For the right price) They always have whatever metal I have needed: stainless, copper, aluminum, tube, square, solid, round, plate… the list is endless. The employees are awesome they are always interested in the project you’re working on. Sales counter is no BS take it or leave it pricing and if you think you will find a better price I bet it’s not in stock at the next place you go. If you need something that is out of the ordinary stop by and see if they can help you out, I bet you go home with it in hand.

Needed steel plates and other things for my 4×4. This place was a gold mine! They had everthing I needed.

What a cool discovery. I was looking to sell some scrap metal removed from my house during a remodel (copper pipe, cast iron pipe, etc.). These guys will buy the copper. They don’t buy cast iron but you can leave it – turns out the local place (sims) that will buy cast iron has a 500lb minimum before they will purchase although you can also unload it there. I got to wonder around Alan Steel a bit when I went in and they have a pretty astonishing array of metal stuff…
Anyway, I they were super nice and helpful on buying my copper and unloading all the metal. I hope I never remodel again (different story) but if I do end up with another pile of metal I’ll end up here again.

A great place to look for miscellaneous parts and fixtures, in addition to regular stock of steel, stainless, aluminum, etc.
They seem to pick up a lot of the various castoffs and salvage items from Silicon Valley’s high tech companies. It’s amazing what you can find just browsing the many aisles.
You can go in and ask for something specific (which they’ll often have), or just take a while to look around.
Prices vary from great deals to reasonable, for the most part. They also accept some metals for recycling.

This is a mecca for DIYers. It’s been on the peninsula for decades when Alan’s father ran the place. Plenty of parking a stone’s throw from the Whipple exit on 101. Stainless, cold rolled, hot rolled, aluminum, tubing, plates, and then the scrap. They have about an acre less of scrap than in the old days but there are still tons of good finds.
For me this is often my favorite destination during a shopping day. I’ve occasionally packed books along and just camped out in their yard in the marshlands for a few hours to soak up sunshine. It’s a bit of the peninsula past and I’m happy they are there.
If you are pushy pushy and expect drive through service in two minutes this is not the place. For artists or those who are not used to dealing with industrial supply houses i guess that Alan may seem a bit reticent — Just remember that each transaction is unique and takes a bit of effort. he uses a calculator and paper not a computer — you get the idea. he’s been very reasonable on returns too. And yes, there is an old sink to wash your hands off afterwards!
Jim and the guys in the yard are very knowledgeable, happy to fire up a forklift or chop off a few feet of some weird barstock. There are a stack of tape measures that you can borrow. They do saw and plasma cut and sheer sheet metal at a reasonable rate which is enormously helpful. Inevitably when I buy new material though I also pick up something used from the yard.
I also use maxx metals in san carlos. prices are about the same, they are nice too but it’s less convenient to me and they have none of the surplus.

Pros: Great selection, decent prices, You will most likely find what you are looking for, and then some.
Cons: Hours — not open on the weekends. Definitely prepare to get dirty here. But YES there is a sink! It is around the corner from where you pay.
This is my go to place for any projects needing steel, aluminum, pipe, angel iron, extruded piece, etc.
I have to admit that they aren’t THAT cheap but a lot better than Home Depot. I can spend hours looking around here because it just two big warehouses. The worker there are great but I would have to agree with the others that the owner that’s behind the little room where you pay is kind of grouchy.
I also have been charged different prices per pound for scraps. Not that far off but still it’s the principle.

This place is an awesome find for me. The more I’m getting into building all my own stuff, the more I’ve started to realize that buying raws from home depot and McMaster is going to cost you sick bank, and shipping is going to tear you a new one. For a local solution, enter Alan Steel.
If you have any kind of DIYer blood in you at all, you should just come to this place to check out the junk. Remember all that stuff that blew up in Mad Max? I’m pretty sure all the remaining parts landed here. Not in the mood to brush off some excess rust and reverse engineer? Not to worry. You can buy spanking new sheet metal and bar stock here as well if that suits your fancy… I promise they should have pretty much *everything* you want — even billet if you need to mill stuff.
The only downers are the short hours, and the lack of coherent organization in the scrap which makes it a little tricky to guess what alloy you have in your hand. Small beefs though. I can’t complain much about pricing… I feel I’ve done pretty well by finding a piece of 16 gauge CS about 5′ x 1.5′ that is keeping me welding for weeks for $ 10. Also, I got some rusty thinner gauge stuff (20?) for metal bending, and it was only $ 6 for a ~5′ x 3.5′ sheet. Not too shabby!

Alan Steel is a veritable playground of stock and scrap metals. It’s right by the SF Bay, so there’s a pleasant «coastal» scent that tickles the olfactories as you peruse the vast selection of virgin material and strange refuse, like aircraft parts and huge ship propellers. I had to buy stainless steel and brass sheet yesterday, but I walked out with some inexpensive and wonderful impulse buys of scrap parts… and now I’m headed over there again to grab some scrap engine parts I regret not picking up.
McMaster-​Carr is amazing, but it’s wonderful to pick your materials by hand and you definitely pay a high premium through McMaster for the convenience. Alan Steel is worth the trip.