For grins, I thought I "shake up" my grinding routine with my manual KyM
Instead of pouring the ground coffee in my scooper thingy I purchased from from Orphan Espresso a while back, then pouring that into my PF/basket with the WDT cup in place, stirring, etc, I tried something completely different. Well, sort of.
After grinding in the KyM, I simply held the drawer securely, and gave the grinder a few brisk shakes side to side, to break up the few clump-ettes I get this time of year.
I then poured the grind into the scooper, and poured the grind directly into the PF, ignoring the cup and stirring. A slow, careful even handed pour got the coffee into the basket with little spillage.
A quick light tap down on the counter, the usual 1/2 baked Stockfleths, locked in, and voila, an excellent pour.
Seems like the grind stays a bit fluffier than with than with the stirring in the cup.
The trick is getting the coffee into the basket as evenly as possible, and the scooper helps facilitate that very well.

Scooper Thingy link
http://www.orphanespresso.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=12&products_id=58



EDIT: the curved portion receives, the grind from the grinder drawer, the red part works great to level off the grind, and spank your wife with.

I watched a 'You Tube' video quite a while back where a person used a converted yogurt container to fit inside his portafilter as a large funnel. I adapted something similar after that and made a funnel that is 5" tall is about 3.5" diameter at the top and 48 mm at the bottom.
I dump the premeasured grind from my hand grinder drawer onto a sheet of creased typing paper to transfer the grind to the funnel.
Once the grind is in the portafilter basket I can shake... fluff... bang away (if I want) with no worry of losing any of the grind... I then slowly pull the funnel while holding and twisting the basket. No loss of grind and I always get a good tamp using this inexpensive tool made from a piece of plastic.
Just another alternative...

Bob...you're describing the WDT (Weiss Distribution Technique, from our own John Weiss)
I was just looking to eliminate a couple steps.
Tonight, again for grins, instead of shaking the grinder, I open the draw and did a couple quick stirs, then poured into the above device ...thanks for posting the pix Dan Kehn
and deposited sans cup into the basket. Same result, a nice pour.
Truth is, none of this is particularly novel, and the clumping is minor. My PeDe clumped less, due I believe to 20 or so less turns, or maybe a bit less static.
FWIW, I find my pours more affected by a bad distribution in the basket than a few tiny clumps.

IMAWriter wrote:Bob...you're describing the WDT (Weiss Distribution Technique, from our own John Weiss) I was just looking to eliminate a couple steps.
Tonight, again for grins, instead of shaking the grinder, I open the draw and did a couple quick stirs, then poured into the above device ...thanks for posting the pix Dan Kehn
and deposited sans cup into the basket. Same result, a nice pour.
Truth is, none of this is particularly novel, and the clumping is minor. My PeDe clumped less, due I believe to 20 or so less turns, or maybe a bit less static.
FWIW, I find my pours more affected by a bad distribution in the basket than a few tiny clumps.

Yep... And as you I have never had any major issues with the hand grinders. I just found the funnel out of a plastic container novel... Happy New Year Rob and All...

Bob..same to you...and all!