I didn't forget about you Jon :)! I think the "twist" might be only outside on the billet- you went form 30mm to like 6 (or something?)?. But I'm very affraid that your press is too slow to make forge welding billet that long in one cycle. The temperature of the end of the billet when you squeezed it were way below the forge welding temperature. My suggestion is, when you make forge weld billet that long, the second welding cycle start from the end of the billet (where the holding bar is).
This is going to look awesome
I didn't forget about you Jon :)! I think the "twist" might be only outside on the billet- you went form 30mm to like 6 (or something?)?. But I'm very affraid that your press is too slow to make forge welding billet that long in one cycle. The temperature of the end of the billet when you squeezed it were way below the forge welding temperature. My suggestion is, when you make forge weld billet that long, the second welding cycle start from the end of the billet (where the holding bar is).