I've been wanting to learn the art of refacing because i get a lot of 
vintage mouthpieces, and most of them are imperferct. The problem is 
that i'm not satisfied with the work of the local woodwind shop, and 
shipping mouthpieces from here, Israel, to the USA is just too 
expensive and not practical. My question is, how to begin? should i 
just pick up a cheap piece and some sand paper and try things?

Thank you.

I think you need to get a set of measurement tools first and measure
everything you can get your hands on.

You need to be able to make repeatable measurements.  You also need to be
able to measure defects in a facing.  Right off you will be able to detect
uneven rails.  Unwanted bumps and flat sections in a facing curve are more
difficult to visualize.  The traditional method was to compare your
measurements with tables of numbers taken from "good" mouthpieces.  This is
still useful, but does not give you an illustration.  I think the modern
refacer needs to be able to plot facing curves on a PC.  There are a number
of files on the MouthpieceWork Yahoo site as examples.

There are also a bunch of info on tools and methods posted there.  

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