Michael’s Way; Impressive Method

Posted on Jan 31, 2013 in Hiroko's Blog

Michael Miles, chef-instructor at Houston Central Market, Culinary Consultant, Private Event chef, introduced me an impressive method to hone a cooking knife.

Michael was one of the chefs who has recently assisted my class at Houston Central Market Cooking School. During the prepping of the class his knife caught my eyes. He uses good quality Japanese knifes. All of his knives looked very sharp. He mentioned Korin, NYC, as his must stop place on his every visit to New York City. I asked Michael how frequently he sharpens his knife. This conversation led me to a delightful discovery of sharpening knife in an unexpected way. Michael hones his knife using diamond honing paste; not wet stone. After the class he showed me how to do it.

He has his own honing kit, which uses hones he made from medium density fiberboard (it is a consistent and extremely flat surface, Michael said) placed on a stone base (you can see in the photo). After showing me his kit he painted the surface of the board with a very thin layer of diamond honing paste. Michael then placed the knife on the hone, cutting edge touching the surface. After finding the angle of the cutting edge of the knife, Michael smoothly moved the knife up and down over the hone without much pressure. From that light pressure I did not believe that the knife is getting sharp. After sharpening I touched the cutting edge. It was super sharp. Michael indeed uses wet stone when he needs to do major sharpening of the knife. Michel’s sharpening stone is not Japanese toishi, but Shapton waterstones. Here is his e-mail address: milesculinaryservices@gmail.com. If you have any questions about sharpening knife go to Michael. He has truly mastered the art of knife sharpening and honing.

Here is the information of where you can get the diamond honing paste.

https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/DMT-Dia-Paste-Diamond-Compound-P249C11.aspx

I will be trying his way very soon.