I signed up for a welding class at the high school. First session was Tuesday. It's a mixture of new peeps like me (no experience) and returning peeps who keep taking the class to work on their personal projects in a very nicely outfitted shop. When we went around and said why we took the class, I said I wanted to learn to braze so I could make a bike frame and figured learning to weld, while quite different, would still get me accustomed to doing some metal work. The instructor said, "I can help you get started brazing." I was thinking all I'd do is learn a bit of welding. I wasn't anticipating the possibility of learning torch work in this class. We are supposed to have some project ideas soon and the possibility of actually brazing something looms on the near term horizon. I don't have a junk frame I could disassemble and mess with. Where would I find some scrap tubing and something to approximate lugs to practice on?

https://stockcarsteel.com/

https://www.mcmaster.com/steel-hollow-rods

Here's two easy to find/deal with sources for new. Andy

Aircraft Spruce has grab-bag 4130 tube ends. I went that route and got some nice pieces, all at 12" or slightly less in length.

IIRC, [MENTION=184012]Doug Fattic[/MENTION] used to offer practice lugs and bottom brackets for a reasonable price.

Perhaps one of the cheapest sources of scraps would be buying an old frame and tearing it down.

https://chicago.craigslist.org/wcl/b...839185698.html

https://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/b...853238022.html

If you have a local bike co-op, you can ask them if they have any scrap frames that you could tear down. With some luck, you could find something for FREE. Search the curbs for bikes left out for trash? Free stuff?

Shapiro's in St. Louis has a lot of basic round chromoly tubing. But, you may well also have local steel stores that would have remnants. Although, I wonder if Shapiro's is tied to the aircraft industry.

KVA Stainless used to sell practice remnants.

Oh, there was someone here on BikeForums that had a complete tube set for sale.

Reynolds butted 531 frame tubes & forks set w/ Nervex lugs

Thanks for all the suggestions. That Miyata 1200 is just my size, and basically right down the street. Our instructor said Metals Supermarket in Niles, IL (and several dozen other locations across the USofA) is a reputable place. Also, I'm hosting a vintage bike swap Saturday. Maybe someone will bring something I can justify cutting up. (And there's a sandblasting cabinet in the shop to boot, so I can get rid of any paint before heating things up.)

I guess I'm spoiled. I just can't see spending a half hour+ of sandblasting paint from a few feet of tubing. And I have my own cabinet. Andy

yeah, don't cut that up and use it for scrap. Now you're going to make me rescue that stuff. Bike tubing is really cheap, but irreplaceable vintage tubing is not being made

When I started building again, I got a batch of the cheapest Deda tubing from Joe Bringheli. Then I built a practice frame and it went so well I just didn't bother to use it. But it was dirt cheap, something like $6 a tube. Unfortunately, I noticed he doesn't sell it any more. Nova house tubing is really cheap though.

I hear ya Andrew. Still, for a newbie like myself, all the adjunct stuff is worth being exposed to. There are a dozen people in this class, seven of whom have been taking it for years to have access to the shop. Most people spend a lot of time working with machines other than welders. I've never had access to any of this stuff before, so I am kind of in kid-in-a-candy-store mode.

Skip- I know your excitement, I have had much the same in my younger days too. And back then I would just shoe shine sand off the paint of junkers for practice tubes. But now my hands and neck/back hurt if I do that too long. This was one motivation for getting a blasting cabinet. Still the position one stands at when blasting isn't that much better on the old body. Have fun exploring and discovering. Andy

It adds up when one buys everything to build a frame:

Tubes, dropouts, lugs, bottom bracket, seat stay caps, brake bridge, fork parts, etc.

That 531 kit is a good deal (if it hasn't been snapped up yet).

Nonetheless, it is hard to acquire the parts to build a frame for the cost of buying a used one. One might choose a frame that is a little more thrifty than the ones I linked, but I don't consider it as a magical must protect a $20 frame at all costs.

Hmm, one of those frames was HUGE. Cut-down project? Oh, the OP said it was his size.

Last year I found 3 bikes in people's trash. I used some bits off of two of them for two frame projects I had going. There has to be somebody around you throwing a bike away.

I usually burn off the paint. Very easy to remove the residual. But I would definitely get one of the tubing grab bags

Chrome Moly Tubing 4130 - Wicks Aircraft, Highland, Illinois

You can select the style you want as the tubing comes in multiple thicknesses.

I have no interest in buying an old cheap frame only to work on stripping off paint and cleaning the tubes before using them for practice.

New practice tubing just isnt a lot of $ in the grand scheme of building a frame.

Im recalling a sign at a friend of my fathers welding and fabrication shop ..

'the fact you want it , means it's not scrap'

that's a good saying. I have a lot of material that was someone else's scrap.

I should go through my off cuts and get rid of them. But I do have aspirations of learning to TIG, so maybe I'll keep them for that.

i'm more a freakbike builder than making serious frames, but i go to the local metal supermarket fairly often. they also have what they call a drop table. where they put short and remnant pieces for a lower price. i've also, as already suggested, gotten cast off frames from the local co-op for little or nothing, and flea markets and thrift stores for cheap prices.