Good elbow grease after bad

[piscator]

Is there a way to tell in advance that somebody's abused stainless kitchen knife is not worth repairing? Some cheap stainless edges can turn out to be a serious PITA to fix. An easier, better course would be to give the proud owner a nice shiny new $7 white handled Bakers & Chef's from Sam's, if only I knew.
Regards,
Piscator
AKA Sharpshank Redemption Survivor