A quick tip to turn a 4” HSS blank into two 2” HSS blanks in less than a minute.
You can do this with a Dremel (other tools available) using a small cut off disc. Just score all four sides so the score marks join. Place the HSS stock on two bits of metal raising it off the bench or firm surface you are going to do this on. Now take a cold chisel and a hammer, wrap some rag over the the HSS leaving the score mark visible. Place cold chisel on score and strike firmly, this should shear the HSS cleanly in two. I did this outside and skipped the rag bit and one half shot off down between the decking.
Recovered with a magnet on a stick, so use a rag, avoid my experince of turning a 4” HSS into a single 2”, temporarily. This saves lots of time burning through cut off discs, and generating a ton of dust. My first was only 1/4” tool, but the example below is 10mm HSS stock, cut down ready to make some form tools. You do need to hit it a little harder as the HSS gets bigger.
