Crabtree became concerned in the manufacture of stone tools as a child, took it higher as a hobby & went in to be an acknowledged adept in the field, despite his limited formal education.

Across practical experimentation & learn of archeological finds (each completed information & the chips of stone left by their production) Crabtree learned to develop reproduction of a kind of different ancient flint and obsidian blades.

Around March 1962 he opened a Number 1 Conference of American Archaeologists in Problems of Point Typology at the Idaho State College Museum with the demonstration of his flintworking skills.