re: Welding

My dad was a welder and gave me my first lesson on July 4, 1976 on the bicentennial. I will never forget it. It was a Lincoln 240 volt tombstone stick welder. I still have it and it works perfectly. My dad has long past away but learning to weld has let me fix broke stuff and build things for 47 years since that first lesson.
I think you can self teach yourself from YouTube but you need to practice.
Also I have found that an acetylene torch is as useful as the welder.
PS. My profession is a Pharmacist. I’ve been surprised over the years at the number of hobby welders of all kinds of professions that there are out there.