Originally Posted by explody pup
I remember a while back (more than a year) someone on here talking about having a frame builder modify their Soma fork by cutting it close to the race and welding on a thicker steer tube that had the correct tolerances for such a task. Might be worth a search.
Oh yes. I dunno why I didn't mention that I actually ride a fork with a cut-and-welded steerer (converted to threadless). Totally doable. We have a semi-retired frambuilder here (he used to build track bikes, actually) who will weld in a new steerer for a ridiculously low fee. He did mine (and supplied the new steerer) for $7. Very high quality, reliable work as well. He sanded down the area after welding and I swear I can't locate the weld. I was a bit ashamed to pay that little...
The cut is not very close to the race... with mine the guy left as much of the original steerer as he could, which is a clever idea. Less leverage on the weld.
Of course, if you do a swap, just have a threaded steerer welded in. It can easily be chopped off of a threaded fork.