Okay, so I recently acquired a bunch of “precision” straight edges as part of Gibson's move out of Memphis. (For the record, it was 2 18” and 1 24” straight edges - one of the 18” and the 24” were Stewmac and the other 18” was a Starrett 385. I put “precision” in quotes because I would guess that they've all been used hard and abused over the past 10-15 years and it shows - burrs from being dropped, bumped etc., potential bows and other issues.) I know the Stewmac ones probably aren't going to ever be worth a damn except for relative measurements as far as metalworking goes, but that Starrett... That's got a name behind it. Depending on what it needs to take it into spec again, that could turn into a real user.

For context, I currently do mostly woodworking and a little bit of light metal working, though I have wanted to learn how to weld and have been making steps toward making that happen. I have yet to look at anything against a surface plate because that hasn't shipped yet (I bought it for tangentially related reasons), not that it would do much good for 2 of the 3 because the one I bought is only 18” long.

Replacing all of these with factory new isn't an option (that's why I jumped when I was able to save them from the dumpster), but since these are probably not going to see use anywhere near the edge of their original tolerance limits I figured this might be a way to breathe new life into some old tools in need of a home.

Perhaps Starrett can refurbish them? Maybe a local machine shop? Or perhaps something I haven't even considered?

Starrett would be very expensive to work with. They are all about money. One or two sides may be Blanchard ground. A local machine shop may straighten and surface grind them for you. They would be very accurate after grinding.