I’m fitting some Singular Swift forks but can’t seem to get the crown race 100% flush. The fork’s crown area was pretty rough with paint & a roughish fitting to widen the steerer so I had it faced.

Fitting the race has removed a small slither of metal from the race and all the tapping to finally try & seat it is marking it.

How critical is this for a cartridge headset; will it settle in use?

I might let the bike shop have a look before I mangle the spare race from the old forks.

Just run a hacksaw blade through the crown race. It’ll fit straight on.

As above, cut a slot in it and it’ll seat much better. Or use a bit of plastic pipe over the top to help knock it down square. A bit of marking shouldn’t hurt as the bearings aren’t running directly on that surface.

The bike shop mechanic’s given it a whack with his posh Park setter (mine’s a cheapy Cyclus); it looks the same but he reckons it’s fine (and that marking won’t be a problem. I guess that the worst that can happen would be premature bearing wear (and they’re reasonably robust.

The general consensus on he was that it probably didn’t need facing in the first place.

Also check the steerer tube and inner of the race for minute flecks – my fork wasn’t seating properly for ages, the race it turns out was slightly splayed, due to inner of the race or the steer surface – once I got the race to seat properly – once the race + steerer were cleaned up it’s been faultless.