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When you bend/shape the 1st pick, please play a few notes with out a finger pick to see how and what part of your finger strikes the strings. The part of your finger that actually strikes the string is the part of the metal finger pick you want to strike the string first.
If you look at your hand with the palm facing up, on the right hand the thumb is on the right and the pinky is on the left. So, if you pick a note with your index finger, like I do, mostly no finger nail just the side of my finger and maybe a little nail, sometimes, the right hand side of the finger strikes the string very close to where the finger nail joins the right side of the index finger. That is where I want to make sure the metal pick strikes at a clean angle to produce a good string tone.
Put on a 1st or 2nd finger pick and pick for awhile so you can see where you have to bend and shape the metal pick. Because the picks I currently use are the metal open faced design they can be bent very easily. They usually are purchased in sets of three picks and I only use 2 finger picks and a Black Mountain thumb pick, so i have an extra finger pick that I can experiment with and learn how to make the pick bends I need when playing. As you grow used to using picks you can always make micro adjusts to your finger picks. you will learn what part of the metal pick you will need to bend to make the adjustments you want to make. Some times to get the right adjustment you may need to adjust a lower part of the metal pick to actually get the correct angle on the top side of your pick.
Pete you have worked with materials enough to know that every action you take is going to affect other parts, so keep that in mind.
If I don’t use metal finger picks for awhile I always have to make adjustments to my picks cause my string striking style might have changed slightly. l’ve had the same set for almost 3 years and they show not sign of wearing out.