I am a little tempted to do as FBinNY says, at one shop that takes in and fixes up a lot of used bikes, the mechanic looked at it (but before I'd sanded all the paint off) pried the fork blades around in his hands and declared "I'd ride it". He did say that was his unofficial opinion. Put some clear nail polish on it and check it now and then. He said it was steel so would fail catastrophically, there'd be warning.

The frame shop said nope - I'm sure besides the cracking liability was in mind. Quote "when in doubt, throw it out". I doubt I'll find an expert, at work in his shop anyways, to give me a different opinion.

I do like the frame and I've already purchased some stuff for the rebuild, so I'm kinda stymied. Having a new fork custom built is out of my budget right now. I found a Soma fork that could work - the classic curve - the axle-to-crown is a little tall 389 to my 380 but that isnt too bad. But with shipping its prob $200 and then I'd have to convert to threadless for another $60 or so. At steel threaded fork w cantis and an axle to crown of 380mm is unfortunately a bit of a rare bird.