I removed the star nut from my fork.. they break if you pull up on them hard enough,

steel steerer, so no problem..

(mine, was an OEM special ordered short 35mm travel sus fork
with a particular machined setup for a tubus ergo rack match painted,
so getting another was out of the question..)

anyhow.. they break if you pull up on them hard enough,

CaneCreek headset, so they made the star nut too i'd guess

core is an aluminum sleeve rivet, with a steel thread insert. once the aluminum breaks down,
the stars can be turned and pulled out, on edge, easily..

I'd say it's as strong as any 22.2 quill stem.


& you can bury it as far in your fork as you wish. , just use enough keyed stem shims
in the kit, for the height you wish.

but as i understand the issue is the shop cut it shorter,
Instead why not get another fork
use it uncut. you can always sandwich the stem between spacers at any height
along the steerer shaft.

You can get one of those USB charging hub dynamo power things to put in the
steerer tube then , as it will be hollow,
they must integrate the headset preload adjustment screw
in those, somehow.