If it were us.. after talking to my hubby ofcourse, he said, use a disk cutter. Its an air tool. So you may not have access to one. Hack saw? But may be aweful time consuming..... any guys out there with ideas on what to use to cut it that I am not thinking of...

I would use the 1 inch hinges, maybe smaller, depends on what you have available.

And to keep it closed, one of those little screw in type latch/hook types you use for screen doors and such... I know they make them in little sizes.