I learned baking from my great grandma and grandma many years ago but my great grandma used a wood burning cook stove that made the best breads, pies, etc and she used lard for her pie crusts that she rendered herself and my grandma used late or Crisco for hers (grandma also taught me cake decorating and the fancy pie crusts as she called them, I was 5 so 45urs ago now ) so I too have used mostly lard or Crisco for my pie crusts which I prefer but for certain things I will use all butter or a combo of butter/shortening or butter/lard which work well. I love to experiment with different liquids for pie crusts and have used water, buttermilk, milk, orange juice, vinegar, club soda, ginger ale, coffee (great for chocolate pies) and different alcohols from vodka to tequila! Tequila I use for my margarita pie. I have also used different spices in my pie crust like cinnamon and nutmeg for Apple and cherry or cardamom for mincemeat and even pumpkin pie spice for my pumpkin pies! I do tend to use mainly all purpose flour but once in a while I use a pastry or cake flour with interesting results that turned out great. I know baking is supposed to more chemistry but it doesn't hurt to experiment with different options and now I have an endless amount of pie crust recipes by switching up one or two ingredients. I have never had someone eat my pies and not love them and they always ask for the recipe but then they have tried a couple of others and always say it's a not the same crust, it's not always surprising. I love the comparison of those crusts side by side and I agree with how it turned out but for me (and that I am lucky enough near a good source for lard here in ND) lard will always be my top choice for most of my pies because they are tender and flaky as well as easy to work with no matter what surprise ingredients I use with it! Great article on pie crusts though!

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