The community college route is what I initally decided to try, but they weren't going to teach me the processes I wanted to learn (specifically TIG) so I just bought a couple of books from Amazon.com and did some reading....
I would probabaly recommend you focus on MIG welding. It's probably the simplest type of welding to learn, and fairly inexpensive. For the type of projects you're considering MIG will be a perfectly good choice. The main thing to do when you get your welder is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!! Get a bunch of scrap metal (which they will sell you by the pound) from a local steel supplier and mess around with the various settings on the welder. The main thing with MIG is setting the machine to get proper penetration in the weld. If there's a downside to MIG, it's that you can do a "pretty looking" weld that actually has NO strength.
Once you start welding, you can post pics of the welds here, and people will tell you what they observe about them. You'll be surprized how much people can teach you just by looking at welds in a photograph!!! I posted some of my early welds and got some good feedback about them and how to make adjustments to improve them. I'd reccomend that you do the same thing. There are a LOT of folks here who make a living as welders, and they are happy to share their expertise with a new, enthusiastic student.... /forums/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif
