Corundum is the metal that quietly sits behind a lot of mid-tier heavy and light armor. A Corundum Ingot is worth 40 gold and is mainly used for Steel Plate and Scaled armor (Advanced Armors perk), Banded Iron gear and the heavy Chitin set. It is also what you use to craft a lock. Not glamorous, but your smithy will miss it if it runs out.
How to get it
Smelt two 
Corundum Ore into one ingot. The richest mine is the Knifepoint Mine at Knifepoint Ridge with 19 veins, but you’ll have to clear out the bandits first. Dead Drop Mine and Goldenrock Mine have 4 each, and Whiterun even has 3 veins inside the city.
Blacksmiths such as Adrianne Avenicci, Balimund or Aval Atheron regularly sell Corundum Ingots, and bandits sometimes drop them.
The mining town of Darkwater Crossing is a nice fixed spot: Verner and Annekke’s House holds 6 loose ingots and the village itself 3 more. Dead Drop Mine and the Dwemer ruin Benkongerike also have 3 each, and a single one sits in Duskglow Crevice.
Bandits sometimes drop a few as well.
Smelting and tanning
- 2 Corundum Ore → 1 Corundum Ingot at the smelter
Used to craft
Corundum Ingot appears in 16 recipes in the game files.
Armor
- Steel Plate Armor – Steel Plate Helmet (1), Steel Plate Gauntlets (1), Steel Plate Armor (1), Steel Plate Boots (1)
- Scaled Armor – Scaled Helmet (1), Scaled Bracers (1), Scaled Armor (2), Scaled Boots (1)
- Iron Armor – Banded Iron Shield (1), Banded Iron Armor (1)
- Chitin Armor – Chitin Heavy Gauntlets (1), Chitin Heavy Armor (1), Chitin Heavy Boots (1), Chitin Heavy Helmet (1)
Weapons and other items
- no perk: Lock (1)
- Steel Smithing: Enhanced Crossbow (2)
The number in brackets is how many Corundum Ingot each recipe needs. Bold labels are the Smithing perk the recipe requires.
Improving gear
At a grindstone or workbench, Corundum Ingot is the material used to improve (temper) 11 items, including Iron Armor, Scaled Armor, Steel Plate Armor, Volsung.
Good to know
- Corundum also goes into
Steel Ingots, so keep extra ore if you plan to smith a lot of Steel gear. - At Fort Dawnguard, two Corundum Ingots are needed for the Enhanced Crossbow.
Data from the Skyrim game files (Skyrim.esm and the official add-ons): value, weight, ore veins, recipes and merchant lists. ID 0005AD93 is the item’s form ID for the console.
