If your aim isn't to quit your day job and start building bikes full time then your life will be much easier.

Here's what I would suggest. This is just one way to go about the process and there is no one 'right' way IMO.

First get the basic hand tools you will need and get comfortable using them. Make some blocks so you can hold into the tubes in your bench vise and practice cutting and filing. get the stuff you will need to hook the tubes together whether it be gas or tig torch and play with the stuff using scrap tubes. I wouldn't waste your time trying to build a bike at first. Just get used to the tools so they can do what you need to with them and be comfortable doing it.

After you get to this point go take a framebuilding course. If you are comfortable with your hand skills you will get MUCH more out of the course that you would otherwise. They will show you how to take this skills and apply them to the building of a frame. Most folks go about this in the other direction by the way and I can tell you it will be much harder.

So with a really fun one week course in your pocket and your basic skill developed you are ready to make yourself something fun.

I would also ad that if you have a local community college that offers welding or brazing courses that it time and money well spent. The welding/brazing may be the most important part of the build and it's the ;east time consuming so you don't get to practice it very much. I typically build a frameset is about 16 hours and only about 1 1/2 of those is with a torch lit so if I didn't know how to do it already I wouldn't have much time to practice it during the actual build.

Let me know if you need some scrap tube - I've got lots and could sent it for the cost of shipping.

Let me know if you have other questions.

dave