Don’t skimp on a welder (mig/tig) if you get into it. Go 220v. 110v sucks. Stick machines are usually all good. Buy once and you’ll enjoy learning and benefiting from the craft much better. Keep in mind I paid twice as much for steel last year than the year before, and now I’m paying twice as much for it this year over last. The steel shop I buy from has a drop room where the prices are cheaper and you could usually always find what you needed. Since prices went up it’s practically empty 90% of the time. There’s always the scrapyards, but now you run into “I know what I got” bullshit and you’ll have to clean it up if it’s a work that requires it. I know lots of guys who don’t mind scrapping things together and do quite well with it for what it’s for, but I’m anal and like my shit to look professional and reflective of my skills so spend the extra. Now though, I’m rethinking all that due to metal prices. For yard art and the like scrapyards are the shit. It’s definitely a worthy talent to learn and then have forever. Its applications and the many “offshoots” of metalworking from there will keep you busy and learning for years! The cost and finding of tooling is the biggest hurdle of all!