I bent mine in place while on my back under the car, but my set up is different than yours. The turret style flare tool from Eastwood is worth every dime and I will never used the old standard horseshoe style ever again for flares. It is unbelievable how nice it works.
yuup.. i bought the old style flare tool and wrecks tubes and it was a battle... i got the amazon version that eastwood one and i am a flare god now! (when i don't forget to put the nut on first... which will happen this time also)