How practical is it to make things?

[richsc]

do you think I could make some of this stuff myself?

I didn't think I could either, some years ago. Now it's the entire kit, helmet to caligae. The only warning is that you tend to keep accumulating tools and then you need a bigger space, then you have a workshop with all these neat projects started, then some get done, then another idea occurs, then that gets started..