Most of my tools & other stuff is made from recycled materials. That's the way I was brought up. Make do & mend.

As an alternative denizen of this disposable society, I can source almost any material, for free, from places like: freecycle, freegle, refuse skips, friends, neighbours, industrial estates & stuff left in the streets. For a few sheckles more: gumtree & ebay are good sources.

I grow my own wood for turning and ask for wind fall/cuttings and from places where I know they will be getting rid of it (neighbours are a good source here).

Casting metals are entirely from stripped goods.

Electronics components from an endless stream of thrown out consumables.

I buy new only when I have no alternative. If it's a tool, I'm buying, I try to buy the best I can afford.

Prices here (in England) for materials are on the floor, such is their availability.

The flip side is that apprentice engineers are on the decline & working at home is getting more difficult because it's becoming socially unacceptable (abnormal) to make & fix things.