I see.... So if one is without a flowbench, then I suppose several heads will need to be 'ruined' before one truly learns the ins and outs...
You don't need a set of "junk" heads, but you really do need to read up on what you're doing. Read Pablo's post about porting and do a search to see what you can find, not just on the board. Pics are great but seeing what some one has done and getting an explantion along with pics is better. This gives you a better idea of where you need to concentrate on more and what you don't want to do.