re: I want to learn to weld..

Anyone can learn to weld, being good at it takes some patience and practice.
I had a knack for it in high school and a good shop teacher. My uncles who were both iron workers convinced me to go the engineering route in college.

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Just so no one gets confused MIG, TIG, and stick all need shielding gas to work correctly. The shield gas in stick welding comes from the flux on the outside of the stick vaporizing. MIG and TIG (the IG stands for inert gas) get the shield gas from a separate tanked supply, usually CO2, Argon, or a mix of the two. If you use MIG or TIG wire without shield gas you will get a shitty looking weld that is almost certainly contaminated. What you are generally seeing when a person uses a MIG welder and no separate shielding gas supply is them using flux core wire. Flux core can be used in a MIG welder but is basically stick welding where the stick is replaced with feedable wire and the flux (which provides the shield gas) is on the inside versus the outside of a stick welding electrode.

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I have known a pile of welders, some very good ones, who did not understand that all practically all welding uses some kind of shielding gas...many think if there ain't a cylinder around there ain't no gas. Its pretty fundamental to all forms of welding....

Somewhere in my basement, I have a couple of books on the history of welding, Pretty interesting stuff, especially when the steel ship building industry evolved.

There are so many specialty steels, high strength alloys, composites each demands a specialized joining process to understand the interactions of the base metals, filler metals, the microstructures of each in the weld pool, the heat affected zones (non fused areas around the weld joints), joint strength/design, Also have to consider preheats and cooling rates on the weld pool and final microstructure, avoiding hydrogen embrittlement, cracking etc.

Good news, you don't need any of this stuff to build a grill, a buzzbox, and some welding electrodes, grinder and wire wheel is about all you need. I'd recommend a 308 stainless steel welding rod, welds won't rust, easy to weld with.

I have a little welding knowledge being a high school shop teacher but I am by no means an expert. One piece of advice I will give you is proper base metal prep is key. Welding is so much easier and welds will turn out so much better if the time is taken to grind off any rust, mill scale, or other substances that may affect the weld. Also, proper cutting and fitting will keep you from having to fill large gaps and waste time and welding electrodes.

100% Flag, cleanliness is vitally important. Also have to remove lubricants of any kind. Some steels are pickled and oiled to first remove & help prevent rust.

Your grinder will be your most used piece of equipment. Buy accordingly.

30 years experience here…..all methods.

Go buy you a nice 110V Mig machine.

Get .030 wire- NOT flux core

Get the .030 tips- the machine won’t have them included

Get some C25 gas- Tractor Supply usually has the bottles. NOT pure Argon. Set the gas on the regulator at about 15 CFM.

With this setup, you can weld the vast majority of steel jobs you will ever want to do.

Crank the juice, and set your wire speed just under halfway- if the machine has a dial, about the 10 o’clock position.

Now- for the welding part….

Get you some 1/4” steel- clean the rust off with a grinder, preferably a grinder with a wire cup.

1/4” Steel- this is key to learn- anything thinner is gonna give you hell to learn. YOU WILL BURN THROUGH AND BE VERY FRUSTRATED.

Pull the trigger and let it rip.

It needs to sound like fish frying. Best advice my teacher told me 30 years ago.

Make small circles to join the two pieces of metal together. Start with just making a bead on a flat piece.

Enjoy! It’s a satisfying skill to have!

There's a whole lotta wood in there

yes you can teach yourself. read the instructions and watch youtube videos. one key to my welds getting much better was learning that the term "work lead" does not mean the cable with the trigger, you know the lead you're "working" with. "work lead" means ground clamp. videos show people "stacking dimes." i'm still stacking walnuts, but i have plenty of angle grinders and discs.

and another thing. angle iron bed rail found on the side of the road is tempered or high carbon, or some other impenetrable shite.

and alzheimer's made me forget i posted the same answer 7 months ago.