removing tight lower fork bush

When dissembling a fork leg, the stanchion came out , but with the lower bush and circlip left behind at the bottom of the slider. They wouldn’t drop out or move, so what to do? I had an alloy damper rod which was going to be scrapped, so I made a hook right at the cut off lower end by cutting away one side at a slight angle, almost to the end.
By taking out the drain screw and using a fine nail punch, I dislodged the circlip and tapped it out from the bottom central hole upwards. That gave more space to engage the hook, angled as much as possible across the bore with extra sideways bending force too,and by threading an old top nut onto top of rod and tapping upwards it gradually moved up and out.
It measured larger than another bush, which explains it. As the saying goes, a bush in hand is worth two in the slider....!