A couple of years ago, my nephew decided he was going to culinary school. Needless to say, it comes in handy during the holidays when we all gather together to eat like pigs. With a chef in the family, we've been eating a lot lately.

Now that my nephew is a fancy chef his tools have gotten a little expensive. Knives, pans, mixing bowls, and other miscellaneous chef stuff, which all seems to continuously and mysteriously disappear. We can't tell if he's careless or working with criminals who steal his tools.

He'll be graduating next spring, so we're all chipping in to buy him a new set of tools as his Christmas gift. A good set of chef tools, including pans, pots, knives, mixing bowls that are good enough for a chef aren't cheap, so I decided to take out a little insurance.

When I was a kid and leaving for Boy Scout camp my mom would take out a magic marker and put my initials in all my clothes - yes, that really happens. While that little ritual drove me nuts, like most things moms do, I never lost my clothes. So, when it came to my nephew I wanted to find a similar solution. I wanted to find a permanent solution.

Magic marker wasn't going to do the trick, so I went with a better option: an engraver. I needed something that was going to work on metal, ceramic, and glass and I found it. I got my nephew his very own Cordless Precision Engraver. My nephew will be able to engrave his name on all his new chef tools and can keep track of them in whatever busy kitchen he is working.

I also bought one for myself. It's lightweight and cordless with an impressive 20,000 RPM Motor. I started by engraving all my tools that tend to get borrowed and then I got a little carried away. Phone chargers, keys, the bottom of casserole dishes... nothing was safe.

 

Before you start getting carried away like I did, a few tips: Hold the tool like you would hold a pen. Practice on something that won't be seen, it will take a few tries to get the feel of how the tool engraves into the material. Start off with a light touch. Go back and retrace with a slightly harder touch. I engraved my initials but depending on what you are engraving you might include your full name and even your phone number.

If you have a new chef in the family, a DIYer or even a kid that is always losing their phone chargers I recommend you buy the engraver this holiday season. At under $15 it makes a great stocking stuffer.