I'd probably go with a hacksaw and patience

>Glue it to the end grain of 2x4

Gluing to end grain never makes a solid joint.

What tool would you use?

use the shim stock with your hose clamp

Find a high school or college with a machine shop program. I could do this for you in five minutes if you walked into my classroom.

Yep. Amazon has lots of shim stock options. You probably want to be at 0.01in (0.25mm) thick or less to make it easier to cut.

I would just wrap the outside with stainless steel wire and twist the end like a bread tie.

Doesn't have to be a dowel. You can put a square peg in a round hole lol. Just size it so the square peg hits all 4 corners a little bit. When you tap it in with a hammer the corners shave off and you have a tight fit.

Make a clamp block out of wood. Drill a hole in the wood the same size as the tube and then split the wood with a saw. Now you can clamp the block in a vise and cut the tube with a hack saw.

I thought about something like this, but didn't know what to look for. Shim stock? Half of life is knowing what to Google on.

And I wasn't sure how to close the ring. I do have a MIG welder, but never got around to assembling it.

I assume you know what a spring form pan is? You could make your own “rings” like a spring form pan using stainless steel shim stock. The shim stock is flat and you can cut it with good scissors, then roll it up and secure it with a piece of wire or something around the outside.

If it's a slow day at a small local shop they might just knock it out for something to do. Maybe go drop it off and let them decide when they have down time ....unless you're in a rush for it.

That's where I got the ones that I want to slice up. :-)

I was afraid of annoying them with such a little thing. Small $ customers can be so aggravating...

Make a wooden plug that fits inside. Use a lathe if you have one, but hole saw, bandsaw, hand tools, whatever. Glue it to the end grain of 2x4, then you can just slip the tube over the plug and clamp the 2x4

A machine shop would do it in a lathe for probably very little money.

OK, I'll order one and experiment with it. Can't have too many tools. Thanks for the suggestion.

It’s just the easiest tool to use. Shouldn’t deform anything sch5 or higher really, but you have to check.

precision isn't that important...I'd be OK with 1/8" variation. I am considering a pipe cutter...wasn't sure how well it would with these rather flimsy tubes.

Yep, I was thinking along those lines. Would hate to have to cut parchment every time, though. I do have some silicone bands that are too thin to hold a round shape, but might be able to line the clamps with those.

I'm hoping the dough is too stiff to go through the perforations. Will just have to try it and see.

Thanks for kicking around the ideas.

Also google or amazon"baking ring molds" you've got a lot of options, these look fun :)

You can’t do it without a vice. You will not be able to make a straight cut without one. Get a longer piece.

1/4” is very small. Unless you’re an expert at using a pipe cutter, you’re going to end up with pieces that are 1/4” +/- 1/8”. A longer piece will also let you practice several times to lower the tolerance.

Hose clamps for baking molds is definitely a cost effective approach, and would save you a lot of the work of cutting things. Maybe just a liner of aluminum foil or parchment paper inside the clamps would do the trick

The ID is 2.5", so a dowel would be too small. I left out the ID, because I didn't think relevant, but suddenly it is. :-)

But, yeah, I was trying to think of some way to make it effectively longer. Didn't think of something on the inside. Might be able to insert a 2x4 or something.

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(McMaster-Carr does have a SS tube with thin walls I could buy that might work, but 1 ft length is about $100. And I might be only able to use half of it, because of clamping length requirements.)

Doesn't have to be SS, but wanted to make sure the substance is food safe. I'm making some baking molds. I've ordered some hose clamps that might work, but those have perforations in the metal, which might make removing the items after baking difficult.

Searching on "rings" produces a lot of hits that are actual rings, cylindrical metal formed into a ring, which probably wouldn't work, since, again, the material would be hard to remove after baking. (And wouldn't produce a flat edge.)

If it can be done safely... could you secure the tube around a sacrificial, longer core (i.e. maybe pressure fit a wooden dowel) and clamp that in the saw to then cut the tube?