Mozar - no tips, sadly, from me. I admittedly suck at pie crusts. I only know what my Mom tells me when she gently critiques my crusts as crap. One of these days I'll take her up on offer of lessons.
I believe you want to fold in the liquid with a spatula, instead of brute-force mixing it like with a spoon, mixer, or blender. Using 1/2 vodka can also aid in the flakiness of the final product, as the alcohol evaporates faster than water while baking, thus drying the crust out.
grantmeaname - nope, if you buy lard in the supermarket I can almost guarantee it's been hydrogenated for longer shelf stability.