Quote Originally Posted by Utopian View Post
I'm really not arguing that, and completely understand the concept of increased surface area, but that effect is not going to last past a couple of latherings. Adding the usual amount of water onto the soap is going to make the soap fuse back into its original state very quickly.
Actually, it never goes back to the hard state like the original puck. As cosperryan said, it makes it softer and it remains that way.

If you are familiar with the MWF ceramic dish, you know how the puck sets in there with space around the sides. If you grate and press a complete puck, you have wall to wall soap from top to bottom.

I remember my grandmother grating bars of Ivory soap to do the laundry to help the soap dissolve, and I think this works under the same principal.