about 9 or 10, stick welding old pedal tricycles into pedal four wheelers, learnt all about Ackerman angles, then welding Lambretta LD 150's into one wheel drive go-karts, built two or three,
I was about 18 I think. A friend of mine had just bought a SIP 140 buzz box which looked like it could be useful, so I grabbed an Exchange & Mart and bought myself a Cebora 140 for £49. Taught myself to weld making fishing rod rests with it. Got into MIG a few years later, and a few years back I bought an AD/DC tig, but I’ve not really got into that yet.
There have been a couple of mentions on this thread about soldering - I was about 8 or 9 when I saved up my Mum’s Green Shield stamps and got myself a Remploy soldering iron. A 25w baby blue thing with a triangular handle. I’ve just realised that I’ve been soldering for over 50 years, and welding for over 40 years! You’d think I’d know what I was doing by now!