Purple Le Creuset problem

The purple Le Creuset salt grinder ran out of salt the other day, but because of the science of water, salt and metal, the twiddly-knob on the top stuck fast, rendering the salt grinder unrefillable.

Tonight, I was boiling the purple Le Creuset kettle for sleepy tea, when I remembered science. Metal expands when it is heated. The salt grinder knob is metal. Deductive reasoning tells me that the knob would expand if I heated it (e.g. by immersing it in boiling water). If it expanded, it would surely be easier to unscrew.

When the purple Le Creuset kettle boiled, I poured water into the cups, only one of which was purple Le Creuset. I poured a bit of hot water into a little white dipping bowl, then upended the salt grinder and held its knob in the hot water. When I thought it had been in for long enough to heat the knob but not the metal spindle, I took it out again, and turned it loosey-lefty (holding it through my sleeve). It worked, proving that science and deductive reasoning are right (in this case).

I cleaned the purple Le Creuset grinder up a bit, dabbed a little cooking oil on the spindle for lubricant and protection, and screwed the knob on and off to make sure it worked. It did.

I left it dismantled for Mr Pandammonium to find in the morning with a note saying ‘I Zanussi’d it’. Whether he – or you – will get it or not is anybody’s guess.

Update: he did not.