Spyderco Forums

I had an idea. Can an ordinary person buy a maxamet or N690 steel ingot? How does it work, and how do I find such stores? Metals and alloys

Google can be your friend sometimes. Searching for "knife steel supplier" turned up several businesses that sell billets in various steels.

Sal and all, I tried to use Google etc to find where we can buy H1 and H2 steel from. Is Myodo Metal in Japan the only seller?

I want to buy a small piece of it to put inside a jar of salt water and seal the top and let it sit in there for months and years to show people how it does not rust. Can I do the same with LC200N and MagnaCut?

Not sure if You're asking for an actual steel ingot as in a couple hundred kilos of even tonnes, pre rolling etc or just a piece of steel enough for a knife?

If the latter, You have a couple answers above.

If the former, I'd guess You'd need to contact the steel maker directly

SpyderEdgeForever wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 03, 2025 1:53 pm

Sal and all, I tried to use Google etc to find where we can buy H1 and H2 steel from. Is Myodo Metal in Japan the only seller?

I want to buy a small piece of it to put inside a jar of salt water and seal the top and let it sit in there for months and years to show people how it does not rust. Can I do the same with LC200N and MagnaCut?

Not sure if you can buy H1 or H2. H1 is gone, and H2 might only be accessible to Spyderco. Try AZCK and buy an immaculate copy of a Spyderco knife made in H1 and H2.

For LC200N and MagnaCut use the link in my post and locate a retail outlet.

Naperville wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 04, 2025 4:51 am

SpyderEdgeForever wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 03, 2025 1:53 pm

Sal and all, I tried to use Google etc to find where we can buy H1 and H2 steel from. Is Myodo Metal in Japan the only seller?

I want to buy a small piece of it to put inside a jar of salt water and seal the top and let it sit in there for months and years to show people how it does not rust. Can I do the same with LC200N and MagnaCut?

Not sure if you can buy H1 or H2. H1 is gone, and H2 might only be accessible to Spyderco. Try AZCK and buy an immaculate copy of a Spyderco knife made in H1 and H2.

For LC200N and MagnaCut use the link in my post and locate a retail outlet.

Thank you friend. Is lc200n truly rust proof like H1?

SpyderEdgeForever wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 04, 2025 12:17 pm

Naperville wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 04, 2025 4:51 am

SpyderEdgeForever wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 03, 2025 1:53 pm

Sal and all, I tried to use Google etc to find where we can buy H1 and H2 steel from. Is Myodo Metal in Japan the only seller?

I want to buy a small piece of it to put inside a jar of salt water and seal the top and let it sit in there for months and years to show people how it does not rust. Can I do the same with LC200N and MagnaCut?

Not sure if you can buy H1 or H2. H1 is gone, and H2 might only be accessible to Spyderco. Try AZCK and buy an immaculate copy of a Spyderco knife made in H1 and H2.

For LC200N and MagnaCut use the link in my post and locate a retail outlet.

Thank you friend. Is lc200n truly rust proof like H1?

I'd look at the experiments performed by Larrin to answer that. They are very close.

Naperville, thank you for your help, friend. I found a knife steel supplier who carries LC200N. What I want to do is get say an inch to 3 inch long piece of that and the same length of a less rust resistent steel, immerse both in jars of concentrated salt water side by side, and take pictures of the effect on each steel over time, and post them on the forum here, to show all of us the difference in corrosion resistance.

Alpha has N690: link. Not sure why you didn't find this when searching -- do the sizes not work for you? You said "ingot" -- I assume steel that has other purposes will be available in different sizes and shapes. But steel only used for cutlery is going typically be rolled out pretty thin.

In general hobbyist level makers have only so much access to fancy steels.

zhyla wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 07, 2025 7:32 pm

Alpha has N690: link. Not sure why you didn't find this when searching -- do the sizes not work for you? You said "ingot" -- I assume steel that has other purposes will be available in different sizes and shapes. But steel only used for cutlery is going typically be rolled out pretty thin.

In general hobbyist level makers have only so much access to fancy steels.

Thank you for this, well said.

Alpha Supply is actually the main one I was looking at.

Do you think when it comes to practical use, N690 is plenty corrosion resistant for most uses? What is amazing to me is that H1, H2, and LC200N are supposedly 100 percent truly rust proof.