I recently bought a 14,000 RPM Diamond Engraver Pen on Amazon, HERE. It’s AC-Powered, UL-Listed and comes with 3 tips. I’ve been using it to carve my name into personal property that I don’t plan on ever selling:

Libertarianism is based on property rights. Your property is more your property if it has your name carved into it. And cops will never get your stuff back if it’s stolen. But if you have your name carved into it, you might.

Some people recommend carving your social security number into your property because it’s more of a unique identifier than your name. I recommend against it. First, because thieves seeing your SS number on your stuff or in a photo of your stuff makes it easier to steal your ID. Second, most people don’t carry their SS card, but do carry their ID card, so if you ever have to prove you are the person connected to the property, you probably have the ability to do it on you at all times. Third, do you really want to use your FDR socialist government number to ID your stuff? I don’t.

If you have a fairly common name, like I do, add your middle initial, especially if if’s an uncommon middle initial like mine. (I do share it with George W. Bush, but don’t hold that against me, I didn’t choose that. And it’s not in his honor. W was an unknown 17-year-old prep school F-up when I was born and named.) If you don’t have a middle initial, use your name and your website address.

Wear eye protection and some sort of air filter mask (even just a cloth over your face is better than nothing) while using the engraver, it gives off a little cloud of particles while you’re using it. (Metal, plastic or whatever you’re engraving into.) If you have sensitive kitty ears like me, you’ll also want to wear hearing protection. The sound of a diamond drilling into hardened steel is pretty loud and horrible.

I also recommend keeping a record of the serial numbers of all your property too. But adding your name is an extra layer of security. If there’s ever a disagreement on who owns something, you may simply have to show some arbitrator your ID, rather than go home and get your list of serial numbers.

Disfiguring your property with your name also makes it less likely that you’ll try to sell it when you’re short on cash, because people are less likely to want to buy something that has someone else’s name carved in it.

–Michael W. Dean