Personally, I've stick-welded with a buzz-box, and later with a rewound microwave transformer (very small sticks), and two car batteries in series. So I'm more from the chunks of mild steel 'git-r-dun' school.

It's just enough experience to have a lot of respect for real welding. Partly just the right equipment, but mostly in how much skill goes into doing this stuff.

I welded the stainless ring of a headlight with a car battery, jumper cable and the carbon electrode of a zinc penlight cell once. Other than that my buddy does my welding mostly TIG on anything and everything with HF easy start and a pedal that will crank out more than 100 amps. There is something about being an EE that the sound of the crack of an electric arc makes me a little jumpy - in my line of work it's a bad thing and it makes me jerk my hands away! LOL