Camilo

I'm not saying the way you did it won't work, but when you use the proper tool (either purpose-built, or home made) you're tapping it into place with the force between the race and a pipe-like tool. You've essentially used a much more fragile bearing instead of the tool to tap it into place. You'll probably notice if you damaged the bearing (I would guess not) and failure would not likely be catastrophic, just needing a new bearing I would think.

That said, I've installed a few races without a tool. Frankly, I never thought of doing it your way and probably would have tried it if I had. But what I've done is I slide them down the steer tube as far as I can by hand, keeping it squared up to the steer tube. I've then seated it by tapping with a wooden stick or dowel and hammer very carefully and in very small increments, slowly and evenly around the race, keeping it squared up, Tiny taps, very evenly. It's actually not that hard to do it, patience and common sense involved. It's pretty crucial to keep it very squared up, because if it gets angled too much it binds. You just have to work your way around bit by bit. A tool would definitely be more fool proof and easier.