Retired Asheboro Police Officer’s Flint-Knapping Raises Money for Charity
asheboro, charity, culture, flint knapping, police officer, randolph community college, robert crutchfield,
In his 36 years as an Asheboro police officer‚ it was the people that kept Robert Crutchfield excited about his work.
Sure‚ he ran into a lot of bad guys‚ but a career in police work brought him far more friends than enemies‚ he says.
“Police work is a people job‚” says Crutchfield‚ who retired in 2002. “I always tried to go out and get to know the people in the neighborhood‚ older folks‚ the kids‚ and I met a lot of friends over the years.”
Now‚ though he’s not walking a beat or supervising an office‚ Crutchfield is still meeting people through his hobby: flint knapping‚ the ancient art of making arrowheads and knife blades. He describes it as “taking stone against stone‚ or antler or bone against stone and shaping it the way the Indians did.”
Crutchfield creates works of art from obsidian‚ the sharpest natural material in the world‚ he says‚ and then mounts them on antler pieces and natural bits of wood. Knife handles may be made from cactus or even coyote jawbone. It’s careful‚ painstaking work‚ and though he wears gloves‚ Crutchfield admits he’s cut himself more than a few times.
Crutchfield studied flint knapping at Randolph Community College. Today his work is a favorite with collectors; in a recent charitable auction‚ one piece brought $2‚000.
“It blew my mind‚” marvels Crutchfield‚ who rarely sells his work‚ preferring to donate it to charity or give it to friends. “But it’s not about the money. I want to project the Lord in these things. I firmly believe he made it all‚ and I just put it together.”
Story by Laura Hill
Photo by Greg Emens
