This tool worked quite well. It is what I use to change the saw blades on my table saw.

I’ve stripped and repainted 3 bikes in the past and oil coated steel wool does work great to remove rust then I used 800 grit finishing sandpaper and, no, not the carpenters sandpaper.

Agreed, these forks are more gimmicky than they are suspension. It has, not only, a steel 1 1/8” steerer tube (thank you for advising me there) but it also has steel sliders. They did clean up pretty good but still a tad pitted.

Anyway, I was able to clean them up with some suspension specific grease inside and they bounce/slide smoothly and, seemingly, unaffected by the small amount of pitting on the sliders.

It is a bike that will either be given away or sold for about $50, depends on level of income of the person buying.