Phone a friend who has a bigger saw, alternatively seek help from a small engineering firm.

Emgee

Start off by any of the above methods as deep as you can go.

If you need to finish off by hand, rather than a hacksaw, which will have limited travel and never clear the swarf, use a length of bandsaw blade in a gardener's bow saw. The initial groove will guide the blade and help stop it twisting. Also  regularly rotate the work-piece and also swap it round left to right.

If lacking a spare length of bandsaw blade, I've even had success with a wood cutting blade in the bowsaw ( just pick one where the set is even, or if you have a pair of saw setting pliers, ensure it is to save the blade wandering

This way you get a long cutting stroke, which readily clears the swarf .

Bill

Edited By peak4 on 15/02/2018 14:56:35

Edited By peak4 on 15/02/2018 14:57:45

Neil, you can get Vitrex Tile Saw blades which are very similar to the old Abrafile blades but they are short so fit things like coping saw frames or piercing saw frames rather than a full size hacksaw.  These wire saws are much longer and more floppy!

John

Edit: Spelling

Edited By Journeyman on 15/02/2018 16:05:53

If you have a mitre saw or can hire one from a hire shop _ better than messing up your own one!!!!

–Make a channel shape out of plywood about 2 ft long so your hands are well clear. Clamp the billet in tightly with a G clamp across it. Put an aluminium cutting blade in a mitre saw & just cut into the billet bit by bit rotating it every so often. Do some cuts side by side so the blade does not jam. Then face it up in the lathe

Thinking laterally, If you know someone with a forge & have means of melting it–You could just melt it down & cast it into 1 inch billets!!!

A while ago I had to part off a piece from a 6" round. I used a parting tool (HSS) until I was afraid to go deeper. I left the part in the chuck and used a reciprocating saw (Sawzall) to finish the cut. I rotated the work occasionally so the saw blade was working on a fairly narrow edge. Too much blade engagement really slowed down the cut.

I'd go for Emgee's answer. Faced with cutting a short length of 6in aluminium bar into 1in slices, I took it to a small engineering shop on the local industrial estate. They let the apprentice do the job on a big power hacksaw, at 50p a cut. That cost me £3, which they let the apprentice keep as it wasn't worth raising a bill for such a small amount.