Joe Pfeiffer wrote:
(lots of good comments from others, but I do want to put my $.02 in
here)

"Steve writes:

Common "mild" steel is fairly easy to weld if you are good at
soldering, but stainless is trickier and the equipment can be quite
expensive. I suggest you sign up for a night school class. This is a
skill best learned from an expert because much of it is recognizing
and correcting mistakes.

My experience was that my decades of soldering experience made learning
to weld harder: I was accustomed to being able to rely on the base
metal not melting, and seeing the solder melt meaning I was pretty much
done -- and if I did'nt like the result, I could start over. I found
getting used to the idea that I was working as much with the melted base
metal as with the filler, and that there was no going back (you can
rework a weld, but it isn't like doing the first weld over again!) to be
very, very different.

I strongly endorse learning to weld in a class, or at least with the
help of an expert who has lots of time and patience to help you
improve.


With leadlighting the basemetal (lead) melts at the same time as the
solder, not like soldering guttering etc.