re: Welding

I was in a similar situation as OP a couple of years ago. I knew of no one around me who knew how to weld. I put an ad in CL saying that I wanted to hire a welding instructor for personal instruction and I didn't have any equipment. I lucked out finding a really good guy who had gone to welding school. He would come over to my house on Saturday mornings and teach whatever the topic was for that day. I paid him $60 per hour with use of his equipment. Once I bought my own welder, he lowered his rate to $45 per hour. I wanted someone who had gone through welding school because: (1) I wanted to learn how to weld safely (especially important for oxy-acetylene work), and (2) I wanted to be able to ask a lot of questions (and I did).

This process worked perfectly for me. My primary interest was stick welding and that's the type of welder I bought (ESAB Rogue 180i). I also have oxy-acetylene tanks and torch. It's a lot of fun and I've done some cool stuff with it. Good luck in your journey!