A swage is made from segments that slide relatively to each other to go from a run in dimension to a maximum or built dimension when the segments move into alignment. The angle of inclination of the sliding axis between the members is less than the swaging angle for the pipe on the exterior of the segments so that once the segments are aligned and driven into a tubular for swaging they are precluded from extending into misalignment to clear an obstruction. In this manner a minimum drift is provided or the swage simply stalls. To facilitate building the swage in a tubular to the predetermined maximum dimension, the sliding surfaces are configured at an angle to bear the radial reaction forces from the tubular more directly thereby reducing the contact forces and the resulting friction. The edge connections are also configured to reduce bending which can cause segment binding as the swage is built in the tubular.