If it was me I would cut a block of wood and use it with a pencil/pen to mark a line around the outside parallel to the end face. You can also use a piece of 2" emery cloth wrapped around the outside to give you a straight line but not everyone has that lying around. Then cut a piece of wood that almost goes across the full width of the inside and use 2 wedges to clamp from the inside just to brace it so it doesn't bounce while cutting. Sit it on a flat surface on its side with something soft so it wont roll easy, like some sponge rubber or a home made vee block. Take a hacksaw with a 24 TPI blade or maybe an 18 TPI and start to cut on the line. Cut until the blade just breaks through and then rotate it away from you so you are cutting on the side of the cut closest to you and keep doing that until you are all the way around. Just make small cuts of maybe 5-10mm deep and rotate and reposition the inside brace to where you are cutting. Maybe if you are cutting close enough to the end you may not need an internal brace as the hacksaw wont put much pressure on the outside. The reason I would use a hacksaw is the sides are not that thick and the finer the blade the more teeth that are cutting and will reduce the chance of chatter and the blade bouncing and make it easier to cut. It should keep the line straight and reasonably parallel to the end and then just stick some sand paper onto a flat surface and sand the end flat. Have had a little experience in cutting thin walled articles and the finer blade with make it easier and do less damage. Just a thought as how I would attempt the task and I would use hand tools before any power tool unless you want to have a second drum and its less likely to open a vein.
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Originally Posted by Simon Barden
