You won't be shot down by me at least, Joe. My experience is that for light duty use, you can get a fair amount of service from a worn bore. (I'm not so keen about a gouged or scored one, though.) Both with cars and mowers, I've found that you can use them gently for years with new rings in a rather tapered bore, provided you don't run them hard, and you don't mind a modest amount of oil consumption and blow-by. On the other hand if you want to use them for hard yakka, it isn't really worth while. They won't last long in severe service, and it just isn't worth the labour to dismantle and reassemble them for the short time they'll last. Other people's experience may differ - I think it probably depends mostly on just how hard and how often you can use a machine and still call it "light duty".
I can remember a guy selling a front loader-backhoe to a builder. He regarded the fairly tired old Massey 40 Industrial as in good working condition. As it turned out the builder put the machine to work like it was a new one. Took it straight to his site, and ran it really hard for 8 hours plus without a break. By then it had used all the oil its 3 cylinder Perkins could hold, and ruined its crankshaft bearings. A nasty dispute arose between the dealer and the builder. There were plenty of signs it was running out of oil of course, but the builder wasn't interested in or sensitive to such things.
