You’ve heard of stealth bombers. How about a stealth sword?
One day in 2003, Milwaukeean Curtis Koehler, 57, was inspired to create a new weapon. The sales associate at Irish Sounds Creativ Inc., a Manasha-based financial marketing company, was in Brooklyn, N.Y., visiting a client.
“The whole area is gated and there’s graffiti all over the place,” he recalls. In a handsome suit, toting a $500 Halliburton attaché case, Koehler felt like a gold-plated mugging target.
Even with years of boxing and karate training, Koehler thought, “I don’t want to go down without a fight. I took an entire year thinking, ‘How could I even the odds?’ ”
He began experimenting with high-carbon spring steel – a flexible grade that can be twisted and returned to its original shape. What gradually emerged was the “BeltSword Weapon System,” a sword 24 to 33 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide that can be sheathed around one’s waist in a specially designed belt.
“A combat-ready sword that’s easily concealable and quick to deploy,” marvels Janesville native Peter Hetrick, who has 30 years worth of experience in martial arts weaponry and now works with MPI Protective Service in Fort Worth, Texas. “I have never seen something like it.”
Final designs were completed in 2007, and the sword was available for sale in spring 2008, retailing for $149.50-$209.50.
Though the BeltSword is not legal in many states, including Wisconsin, Koehler says he’s sold it to a Marine at the American embassy in Angola, a police officer who does VIP protection for the New York City mayor’s office, and some members of the U.S. Special Operations in Afghanistan. Even a magician bought one for his act.
Bob Taubert, a retired FBI agent in Virginia, sees several possible uses, from being part of a federal air marshal’s arsenal to self-defense for civilians. “It would have a tremendous psychological effect on an opponent,” Taubert says. “But if he has a gun, start running.”
