That was my point in all of this. I'm looking for the best oil out there. While as you say they're alot of variables. A truly independent organization would develop test to search for that. The PQIA isnt interested in finding out. It would then pit the donors against each other to create competition on being the best oil not only just meeting a requirement. For instance a requirement to pass a class is a C grade point average. But I bet you'd rather get that fella who got A's.
I'm not a conspiracy type of person just sadly now most everything is controlled by the mighty dollar. Id rather support the independent companies then the big lazy corporation that just keep raking money in just cause their market share dominance.
On PF it's easy to try and discredit by saying he's doing it in his garage. He's very clear in his methods on the three things he tested on. I give the guy alot of credit. I know I couldn't do that myself. I have no reason to doubt his biases. Of course he makes his money on content but I bet if he got the funds that PQIA get he'd be doing alot more elaborate test. He essentially did do PQIA job . Just send the oil out for analysis and report on it's contents but with a few added test. Any way hopefully holidays went well. Let's see is 2021 is better then 2020.
My point is that there is no best oil, just like there's no best car, tire, jeans, watch, shoes etc. There is most expensive and best for specific conditions or situations. An Audemars Piguet Royal Oak may be the best watch for a CEO of a large company to wear at the office but probably not the best choice for a mechanic working on cars all day. There's a reason no independent organization has attempted to find the "best" oil. How would anyone clearly define best?
And everything has been controlled by the mighty dollar ever since the mighty dollar was invented, it's really nothing new. "The almighty dollar, that great object of universal devotion throughout our land, seems to have no genuine devotees in these peculiar villages; and unless some of its missionaries penetrate there, and erect banking houses and other pious shrines, there is no knowing how long the inhabitants may remain in their present state of contented poverty."- a quote from
Washington Irving, who used it in the story "The Creole Village", which was first published in the 1837 edition of
The Magnolia, a literary annual. Courtesy Wikipedia.
You're typing on a laptop or phone, driving a vehicle, wearing clothes, watching a television that was built by a big lazy corporation. The list of items you and I use every day made by big lazy corporations that can't be produced by small independent companies is endless, no matter how well intentioned the notion of supporting the little guy is.
It's not a matter of discrediting Project Farm because of where he conducts his "tests". It's discrediting the tests themselves because they do not in any way prove one oil is "better" than another. Burning oil in a hot plate, watching oil run downhill and using a wear test that's designed for testing extreme pressure properties of grease, (explained in ASTM D2596) is amateurish, pointless and inaccurate.
And I agree, hopefully 2021 will be a little better.