Here are the steps to make an ornimental twist of individual cubes that swirl around the barstock like a spiral staircase.

Please follow the pictures from left to right.

Start off with a piece of square bar stock. The length is up to you. In this example, I used 1/2” (0.500) square bar stock that is 3 inches long.
Make a vertical cut or vein down the center of the bar stock on each side. This can be done with an angle grinder or be getting the material hot and using a chisel.
On two opposing sides, make horizontal cuts that connect each vertical cut or vein. This can be done with an angle grinder but I personally find that using a hacksaw is easier and more precise. When you complete this step, your bar stock should cubes on 2 apposing sides and blank on the other two opposing sides.
Heat the material up. lock one end of the material in a vise and use a wrench on the other end to twist it. Do as many twists as you would like. In the forth picture over, I twisted this piece half a rotation (180 degrees). Brush off any scale with a wire brush and dunk in water to cool off.
Many different variation of this can be done. multiple vertical cuts, rectangles instead of cubes, cubes on all sides, cubes on 1 side, multi directional (clockwise then counter clockwise), the possibilities and imagination are limitless.