[Closed] Conned - Repairing badly gouged steerer that is too loose for a crown race?

The Rebas on 29er that I brought of the classifieds at Christmas had been making a knocking noise on large bumps and the headset was binding.
I dropped the forks out to find that the steerer had been so badly gouged where someone has ham fistedly tried to remove the crown race that the crown race just fell off and now has about 1mm clearance all round. I don't know what they thought they were doing but I'm not happy that I've been sold forks that are useless and possibly dangerous but I guess it's a case of buyer beware.

Is there any bodge that will rescue the forks?

Or 29er forks are still rare and a replacement uppers (CSUs I believe their called) cost a fortune so I was wondering if I could use some 26er uppers instead?