Xena Original Chakram Run 2026 #1

Howdy, Xena fans!

I thought this would be a good way to keep everyone informed about the progress of the chakram run. I'll try not to bore you to death.

Since this is the first one, perhaps I should back up a bit and give you some "whys" (like "why is it taking so long?")

I've made chakrams for almost 30 years now. At one time, my Xena catalog included the original chakram, yin-yang chakram, splitting yin-yang chakram, sword, breast dagger, whip, Gabrielle staff, Gabrielle sais, Callisto dagger, Hercules gauntlet, and amazon sword.

I don't live on a farm where I can go out back, dig a big pit, fire up a caulron and melt down my old 56 cylinder Bentley marine engine to cast my own aluminum chakrams. Therefore, I must get someone to at least do the castings. I used to finish the raw castings myself, but the equipment (and strength) needed is substantial. It's a whole other career. So, I started hiring that work out to skilled and equipped shops. I handled the painting and finishing touches.

Over the years, the foundries and the metal finishers came and went. Patterns wore out and were remade as reference material grew more abundant. Competitors sprang up, only to disappear when they realized there was no fortune to be made in the Xena Chakram Replica industry. Eventually, demand dwindled, and I decided to reinvest my money in more popular items.

Last summer, it seemed to me that there was a lot of interest in the Xena chakrams again, so I began exploring the possibilities of another run. My last foundry was giving me quality control problems, so I didn't want to use them again. I sent out inquiries, and found an overseas company that was competent and cooperative, so I paid for the development of a mold and a sample casting.

These things never go smoothly. The sample had flat rings. They had spun the chakram on a lathe and used a flat abrasive to smooth out the sand texture. This left a series of flat, concentric faces instead of a smooth radius on the top and bottom. Also, the engineers were stuck because I couldn't define the shade of gold paint I wanted. So, I tucked the project away and finished the run of Han Solo blasters that had been dragging on since 2020.

Then I had to close my shop and move out. Now I'm working from my house. It's a small house. *sigh*

So, a few months ago it was time to get back to the chakrams. I hand polished the sample to restore the curves, and found a suitable shade of gold paint. I contacted the foundry (found that my original contact was no longer there) and sent in the sample. It took a month to get there.

Certain that it was just a matter of agreeing to a schedule and payments, I made the announcement on Facebook and set up a way to collect names and eventually pre-orders. But, it just couldn't be simple.

The foundry told me the price would be three times what they had quoted. Oh, and also, they wouldn't make another sample with proper polishing until I had signed a contract and sent a 50% deposit on the whole order.

Dear Xena lovers, I've been suckered into this position more than once. The reason they won't do a proper sample is simple - they don't know how. I always get stuck with inferior products this way, and I have to expend a crazy amount of effort to bring them up to my standards.

So, that brings us up to date as of Friday, September 11th, 2026. I told the foundry goodbye, and sent out requests for quotes to every metal foundry I can find (I've actually got a large list of them). I've identified a few that look promising - good at casting and manual polishing. I've only gotten fake bids from them at this point, and I'm waiting for real quotes after they look at the drawings, models, and specs.

This is exactly why I'm not taking any orders yet. I may find a very motivated, competent manufacturer who does everything right and can deliver these quickly. But, more likely, it will be a few months of trading samples and waiting on the mail service. But it will get done, dag-gummit!

If you're on the notification list, I'll send an email when there is news! If you're not on the list, you can sign up here: Xena's Original Chakram Info