Cutting Soap with a Spoon!

*waves* Hey y'all! Hope everyone is staying warm and dry. The weather here has been a bit nuts the past week. I have had to cover my plants the beginning of the week due to the frost, and turn on the heat in the house. As much as I love the winter, I am anxious for actual spring.
Ok, so you remember on the last post I showed pictures of the Goats Milk Shea Butter Soap?

After unmolding, can't really see the orange.

Well the next day I unmolded it and started to cut it. Unfortunately I had a bit of a crumble when cutting it. So we realized that it may have been the knife going dull because while cutting it , it was like I was cutting the loaf with a spoon. My husband checked the blade and sure enough, dullsville. ;) We had only cut a few bars (that looked horrible), and decided to get a new knife for it and see. We did btw sharpen the previous knife but it's pretty much done for.
There was a marked difference when using the new knife:

The first knife used on the loaf.

After using the new knife.

The top of the soap.

Ok so while we think it may have been the knife, we of course know that we need a different cutting utensil that is specifically made for soap so that there isn't any damage to the soap. But we decided that we're going to do the same recipe again, because it was a recipe that I created, but without the colorant, and fragrance, and see if it was any of that or if it was the goats milk that was used that contributed to the crumbling. I thought perhaps it may have been the orange colorant because of how that particular color looked to balloon out in the loaf, or too much fragrance that contributed to the crumbling. The loaf of soap was slightly difficult to cut anyway.
We believe it was in fact the knife based on findings with the second knife, however I would much rather double check the recipe to be sure. What got me is even though there was only slight crumbling when the second knife was used, it still seemed to be a creamy bar. I do however like that the goats milk produced an off white soap and not tan this time. :) Will be keeping an eye on it during cure time.
Will let you know how the next test batch with the fresh goats milk does.
Have to run out and get some more lye, will post again soon!
Suds & Bubbles,
Soapy