Stephen Fitz-Gerald
Dear Pezzi,
I first made a jig the same size as my neck.
I PULL the forged bar around the jig as I apply the final heat (the full length of the piece).
I use only wooden mallets or hard leather mallets if i have to actually bang on the piece to shape it ,so I don't leave any dents on the surface or disturb the pattern in any way...
When forging an organic pattern in stainless like this one must decide how far to go with grinding and polishing.You want the piece to be comfortable on the wearers neck so you grind and polish accordingly,but not so much that you lose the delicious quality of the pattern or the high contrast of the dark carbeurized areas.One of the advantages of using hex bar is that the sharpness of those corners is diminished since it's 6 sided instead of four sided as in square bar.So you can get away with just a very little grinding and polishing leaving the forged pattern as the predominant aspect of the piece...

Dear Stephen,

"PULL" it round the jig....Yes, I didn't think of that because I work with much thicker stock where a bending fork or a big wooden mallet is needed to get it around the circular jig.

I am going to post, after I send this to you, my favorite twist as seen on my BBQ tool handles. It's a "rope" twist and I think you will agree it has that "delicious" quality we seem to favor. Sometimes I too have to think about how stuff is going to feel against someone's skin. A rope twist has nice soft edges.

Thanks for your prompt response,
-Pezzi

Stephen Fitz-Gerald
Dear Pezzi,
I totally appreciate your attention to detail,and would love to see more of your work.Twists are definitely some of my favorite shapes.I'll have some really delicious samples to post soon in forge twisted stainless square tubing.Can't wait to see yours as well...

Awesome piece Steve.