Dartboards - Darts Dojo

If you're someone who uses their dartboard a lot, after some time you'll likely find it looking slightly worn out and maybe a little damaged. I had exactly the same problem recently and thought to myself, what are the best ways to maintain my dartboard to make it last longer? One of the most frustrating things is seeing your favorite dartboard begin to deteriorate. So I did some research to find out what the best ways are to keep your dartboard looking great and performing greater, for longer. 1. Rotate your Dartboard Regularly The ability to rotate your dartboard is an excellent design feature of bristle dartboards. Since certain areas of the board will be hit more frequently than others, these areas are more likely to suffer from wear and tear. Such as the single 20 scoring zone, which accounts for approximately 23.6% of throws (data collected by PDC). Therefore, in order to keep these sections free from wear and tear, it's recommended that you rotate your board regularly. How to Rotate your Dartboard Rotating your dartboard is as easy as it sounds. Simply unclip the metal ring from around the edge of your board, this is what holds the numbers together. Then simply rotate the board so that the next black section appears at the top, with the 20 now two places to the right and the previous 12 scoring zone taking it's place. Regularly turning your dartboard in this way will spread the wear to the more targeted scoring zones, providing a longer life for your board. How Often Should you Rotate a Dartboard? Most manufacturers recommend for you to rotate your board on average after every 2 hours of continuous play. However, this depends on your skill level. For instance if you're a good player, you're likely to hit the 20 scoring zones more than any other. Therefore, I'd recommend rotating after every session. Interestingly, there's plenty of discussion around what the correct method of rotation to follow is; clockwise, counter clockwise, '8 to 20' as well as many others. Personally, I've found it doesn't make a great deal of difference so long as it's consistent and reduces contact with high scoring zones. Below is an example of a dartboard which hasn't been rotated nearly enough. 2. Do Not Use Water to Clean Your Board Contrary to popular belief, you should never clean your dartboard with water. More specifically, you should never expose your dartboard to liquid of any kind. Therefore, take this into consideration when cleaning or thinking of where to put your dartboard in your home. In which case, never leave your dartboard outside, or in a garage which have the tendency to be damp. Alternatively, you should store your board in a cool, dry environment to ensure for a longer life. For more information on how to clean your dartboard, consider reading our informational guide. 3. Maintain the Points of Your Darts Maintaining the tips of your darts goes hand in hand with the condition of your dartboard. Directly influencing how long it's likely to last, as well other factors we've listed in this post. In which case, here are some dart maintenance tips for you to consider. Be Aware of Blunt Tips After a while, you're likely to find that your darts begin to 'bounce out' much more often. This can occur as a result of the tip of your darts becoming a little too blunt. Believe it or not, blunt darts can actually cause some damage to the face of your board, since a darts job is to penetrate the sisal fibres in the board and recover once pulled out. However, an overly blunt or flat ended tip dart would find it hard to penetrate these fibres, thus leaving wider holes, causing damage to the face of the board. Check for Burrs Overtime your steel tip darts can develop what are known as burrs, which are essentially small hooks which can form on the tip of your dart. This can be a result of a number of things, such as: your darts missing the board; hitting the wall or floorover sharpening your darts; causing the sharp points to bend on impactdarts impacting the metal wiring How to Get Optimal Dart Points When sharpening your darts, it's important to follow the notion that you don't want your tips to be sharp to the touch. Instead, they should be more rounded than pointed at the tip. In fact, you shouldn't necessarily need to sharpen your darts all that often. As most professionals will tell you, the friction generated through pulling darts out of the board will help keep them sharp. For more information on how to sharpen your darts correctly, read our helpful guide. 4. Twist, Don't Pull to Remove Your Darts It's important to be cautious with how you pull your darts out from the board, once they've been thrown. In which case, I'd recommend instead twisting the dart before pulling them straight out the board. I'd recommend doing this particularly if your dartboard is mounted on a stand. As a forceful pull of any deeply buried dart could cause the stand to tip over. Again, a small twist before pulling your dart should be enough. 5. Use Minimal Lighting A problem which can arise with bristle dartboards is lighting, or more specifically what type of lighting you're using on them. For instance, if you're using LED lights in your dartboard setup, you’re fine. They won’t cause any damage to your board. However, since halogen spotlight bulbs can be stronger and give off more heat, they can cause the colours on your board to fade considerably overtime. The same can also be said for exposing your dartboard to too much direct sunlight. Therefore when setting up your dartboard, try to avoid pointing excessive lighting towards the face of your board.