Surviving the garage as a DIYer is all about knowing when and where to save money. As much as you’d like to cut costs every step of the way, that’s how you wind up with enough cheap junk to scare ...

Imagine my joy when I was cruising Craigslist recently. The listing title: “Free.” There were no photos. I clicked anyway, knowing full well that I likely was about to forever lose 30 seconds of time.

I learned to weld on my dad’s discount store 180-amp “buzz box” arc welder. In high school shop class, we used hulking, ancient war-surplus behemoths that taught me only how to burn ragged holes in ...