I’m trying to confirm what a buddy told me recently…that pouring used Coffee grounds into the sink disposal is not only ok, but that it will actually help to sharpen the blades within the disposal??? fact or fiction?? thanks in advance
In-Sink-Erator’s website says:
I doubt that used coffee grinds are as hard as bones or fruit pits, but they prob’ly scour some. Not sure about sharpening though.
good info…makes sense.
It’s a good idea to keep some coffee grounds near the sink anyway. A little rubbed into your hands after peeling garlic will remove the odor.
Coffee grounds, or any other foreign object, could not possibly sharpen blades.
Sharpening is a process of organizing the edge, undoing the random dents and dings casued by the blades striking the stuff they’re grinding. Sharpening is the reduction of entropy in the blade edge.
Meanwhile, blades plowing through a cloud of grounds is a random process, and will increase local entropy, not decrease it.
Coffee grounds are much softer than steel, so I’d bet the net effect is small, but it will definitely be in the direction of duller, not sharper, blades.
Or, you could just rub your hands on stainless steel under running water. Gets rid of the garlic smell without imparting coffee-stink on you.
I thought the point of the coffee grounds in the garbage disposal, was odor control
Garbage disposals act more like hammer mills that beat the food to a pulp than they do like knives that cut it up. The “blades” in my garbage disposal have never been sharp and I hope never will be. Sometimes I stick my hand in there to retrieve things that shouldn’t go down the sink (like a ring) and the last thing I want is sharp blades that would cut me. I think this whole “shapeneing the blades” business was started by someone who had never actually looked at the “blades” in a disposal.
The last plumber that mentioned coffee grounds to me told me NOT to put them in the disposal. He said lots of people had heard that grounds would clean out the disposal, but in fact they just jam it up. YMMV.
Wait, I have a septic system–which I was told not to put the grounds in. I’m so confused! I don’t think the grounds would damage the tank, just decrease the pumping interval due to solids build up…I live near Seattle–we have a lot of coffee grounds around here 
Hmmm…
Emphasis on the word “small”, and you should probably only grind bones that you think of as tiny. I tried grinding some of what I thought were small bones, and then I had to call maintenance to come and fix the garbage disposal.