So I am considering sanding the fork to check out the potential crack. Some questions on that:
1) Is there a better or worse way to do the sanding? Steel wool? Super fine grit? OralB waterjet?
2) Is there any reason to fear that the sanding itself would compromise the integrity of the fork if it turns out that there is no crack?
Lest anyone get too excited about the risk potential here, I ordered a replacement fork from Germany several days ago. My continuing use of the fork will be limited to:
A) Sanding and posting the result here for interest sake.
B) If the sanding does not indicate carbon cracking, I'd like to ride the fork until I get around to switching the new on in.