Cleaning out your grinder

The age old question, how do you get the kief off the sides of the grinder? I've had my grinder for years, it's the only one I've ever had. Recently, it's been... struggling. It doesnt grind so much as just make the bud all stringy. The screen has also been pushed down and messed with so much that i could see bud getting caught between the screen and the metal.

Now, I dont like the idea of my grinder stealing my weed, so I did the only "sensible" thing. I ripped the screen out. I planned on buying a new one soon anyway.

What resulted was perfection, to say the least. It was the exact result I expected, and wanted. Immediately, kief poured into the bottom trap.

Note that if youre thinking about trying this, be very careful of a few things. It's very easy to lose the kief here if you dont have it over something to catch it (Which is easy to forget about considering that pulling the screen out is easier said than done). It's also sharp as hell around the sides, so don't cut yourself. Lastly, small pieces of the screen may fall off, like a single small strand of metal, so observe your kief carefully. You probably shouldn't smoke metal.

Anyway, after some scraping, even more fell out, and i poured it into my bowl. I split it up for two even hits, and I have to say, after all those years and different types of bud going through that grinder, that was some incredibly dank kief. Tasted kinda weird though.

So my question lies here. I've been scraping the sides of my grinder to try and get the kief off before i retire it. Basically im trying to get my moneys worth. I've definitely yielded results doing this, but there has to be a better way. I know I could soak it in alcohol (I have 2 containers of 91% iso in my room specifically for cleaning pieces) but I dont think theres enough kief here to be able to dry it and press it or anything. I know theres not. Heres a few specific questions...

Is it true that scraping with a metal tool (I actually have a dental instrument, I work in a dental lab, works insanely well for most things) will leave behind little metal shavings? I've never seen any but that doesnt mean they arent there.

If I heat the metal, the kief seems to come off right away, but then it just seems to burn away or be stuck to the instrument im using. Is there a method thats similar to what i tried? I know you can press hash with a hot knife, but again, im not trying to do that.

Is there something better than metal? I cant fit a credit card in it... It's a pretty standard sized grinder.

I just want to cover all the bases before I throw this away. It might seem trivial to some of you, who will undoubtedly tell me to just buy more bud, but I'm determined to get every last morsel i can out of it. (fiend mentality)

Any advice you guys have would be great. Also willing to answer any questions you have. Thanks guys. Err, and Im sure this has come up a lot in the past, so sorry if this is a frequent topic. If it's not, well... Knowledge is power, or something...