Thank you so much for the detailed response.

There is no evidence on the fork of an impact. A bit of googling turned up that this has happened to others of its model, without crashing, so I'm going on the fact that it may have just been slightly defective and debonded over time.

I suppose the first trick will be to try to get the bugger free. Any ideas?

You mention the products that you're familiar with. Do you have any experience with DP-460?

Again, thanks so much for the very detailed response. It is definitely something I can use. I will try the repair, but if I wind up buying a new fork for my road bike this will be a fork for an around-town type of bike, since, if I do the repair on my own, I'd rather not trust my teeth to it on 50mph+ descents.