"maybe I phrased my question poorly which led to a misinterpretation"

Yep, and maybe I misinterpretated
many I know of got started by getting old bent frames and pulled them apart for cheap practice materials
learning to clean out lugs, cut the tubes down, learning to close gaps up in lugs and rebrazing the joint test pieces and cutting open, it only costs one the price of consumables.
Make a whole batch up on a weekend and braze them all in one go for best feed back on technique.
Not one ech week
but five to ten joints/lugs in one sitting
Ciao
and