GMM wrote:

Hi people.
I want to cut off the protruding part of an old wooden cill (in
completely the wrong place now!), so that it's flush with the
brickwork below it. Although it's a cill, there's no void above it
(as there would be if I had just removed the window), so I'll be
cutting close to the wall above and there's a cement fillet (about an
inch) over a protruding DPC beneath it, so I need some way to cut
vertically downward, just through the timber.
I had thought of buying a Fein (or clone) but would this cut through
around 2 inches of wood (getting on for 6 feet long as well, so a lot
of plunges) or just make a pig's ear of what's left behind? If there
aren't any suggestions, I may have to resort something like a hammer
and chisel (perhaps a wood chisel in an SDS drill?). It's very nearly
a job for the angle grinder, but I don't think it would make a very
good job on wood, somehow, and though I'm tempted to put a circular
saw blade on it, something tells me that's not a bright idea(!)

Any bright ideas out there?

You want something that's easy, fast and disposable because cutting
close to brick won't do any favours to the saw. A Fein or Bosch doesn't
have the depth of cut and using a plunge blade will get very boring. I'd
recommend using a pull saw which will go through 2inches of timber
faster than you can imagine. At the end of it the saw will be knackered
but you can just throw it away.

http://tinyurl.com/kttm69 £5.87.

or

http://tinyurl.com/5svudc £13.25.

THe higher price of the second one may be off-putting. However the long
handle and flexible blade means that it's easier to cut close up to a
surface without removing your knuckles. A flexible pull saw blade will
cut true even when curved through 30-45 degrees.

The design of the teeth means that the saws cut much faster than
traditional hand saws.