I bought a used safety razor from Ebay. Why? Well, I thought that the cost of all those Mach 28 cartridges was getting crazy! A safety razor uses the cheap, bought-in-bulk, double edged razor blades are a tiny fraction of the cost of modern cartridges.
So, I purchased a couple boxes of razor blades, made with Russian steel.
Now, these blades are generally very good. You can use one side for a shave one day, then the next day you just flip the blade over, and shave with it again. Then, I have found they are probably dulled up enough that it’s worth using a new blade.
Although you can’t see it with the naked eye, the blades are all a bit different. I think they all are extremely sharp! But I feel like some of the blades are perhaps honed more accurately than others? It might be that I am inconsistent with my shaving technique and angle of the razor, but I am pretty certain that some of the blades have a straighter edge than other ones!
This reminds me of a principle in testing: no matter what the lab is — whether top notch or in someone’s basement — there are always tolerances and errors in the testing process.
Can’t be avoided!
And these tolerances (think +/- tolerances on sieves, scales, gauges, etc.) and errors (slight technique differences between technicians, etc.) — no matter how slight — add up and create differences between test batches, and labs.
It’s “the razor’s edge” of testing.
That’s where experience in reducing errors comes in.
Global Energy Labs works to reduce these compiled errors in the following ways (there are many more):
* having technicians compare their results, in order to determine where differences in testing techniques exist, and eliminate them
* testing calibration material alongside client material. This is easy to do with barite and bentonite testing (not so easy with sand testing, but we do check historical results with our sand testing)
* keeping the lab equipment and work areas clean and tidy
* always splitting samples — this ensures a random sample
If you would like to hire a lab that works hard to keep its “testing edge” nice and sharp, visit us!
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