IMO it depends on the knife and steel and what you are doing with it. For example if you were using a 440C knife to cut cardboard and it chipped that would be a very good reason to return it. But if you were using the same knife to chop very hard wood or even metal then chipping would be acceptable, even more so if you are strikeing the wood/metal with great impact force. Then there are steels that are known to be a little on the brittle side like BG-42 for one, which usualy tends to micro chip under hard use but will not chip at all under most normal tasks. Like my PCKS 110 w/BG-42, it will start to micro chip if pressed too hard, this is due to the steel used, the hollow grind/thin edge, and the high RC it is HT'd to. But it works fine under most normal tasks. But its not a do it all prybar type knife by any means, that was not its designed purpose. Then there are steels that are very hard to chip like L6, L6 is a tough tool steel, and that is what my custom 4" FB is made from and it has never chipped and i have put this knife through hell and back, i have worked it so hard that it was so dull i could not see where the edge was at all, it was like it was just gone(chopping concrete will do that to a knife) But it was not chipped, the edge just rolled and deformed under the abuse and bent, but it did not chip. So like i said it depends on the use and the steel. IMO if its not a big enough chip that you cant shapen it out then its not a problem unless its a tough steel and should not have chipped at all.
