The Sport of Darting - Dartboards
Allan Mathers
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 02:35:02 -0500 (CDT)
The Sport of Darting - Dartboards
When looking for Dart Boards there are a quite a few different types of Dartboards to consider. You have the old standby, the,<a href=http://dartboardchallenge.com/dartboards>Bristle Dartboard</a. The novelty boards, like magnetic ones and the newer ones, well not so new, about 5-8 years, the electronic ones. For the purpose here, let’s talk about Bristle Dartboards.
Before we begin, let’s clear up a myth that is still going around today. Dartboards have never been made out of horse or boar hair. No animal parts have ever been used in making a Dartboard. I’m not sure where that started, but I guess I understand how it started. The fibers used in making the boards are fine hair like in appearance. If you were to disassemble your board, all these fibers would appear to look like hair. Enough of that. The standard competition Dart Board is 18 inches in diameter, the target area being 13 and a half inches.
Like anything else, Dartboards come in different qualities. The highest quality boards have, of course the highest standard of quality control. Dart boards are generally made in the UK, Kenya, or China. The Dart Boards made in Kenya are mostly owned by UK based companies, so quality control remains very high. There are no US manufacturers of Bristle Dart Boards.
Bristle Dartboards need to be extremely tightly bound sisal fiber, (similar fiber used in making rope), such as used in the making of Winmau, (pronounced Win-more), Dartboards. The thickness of the board, of one and a half inches, is important so that the wires and staples don’t pop thru the back. The Bristle Dartboard has the characteristic ability to “heal” itself after removing the darts and are the chosen Dart Board for professional dart competition. These boards are chosen mainly because the scoring tends to be more accurate.
Bristle Dartboards are used with,<a href=http://dartboardchallenge.com/darts>steel tip darts</a so as to “push aside” the sisal fibers. The self-healing attributes of the bristle board help to extend the life of the board unlike the paper or cork type boards which become punctured. Who doesn’t want a longer life for their equipment?
Bristle Dartboards are divided by a spider, consisting of thin metal wires that sit on top of the face of the board. The sections alternate between black and yellow, or green and red depending on the ring that you are aiming for ranging from one point to twenty points with single double or triple scoring potential. The wires and staples are now being replaced with thin strips of tensile steel bound into the tightly bound fibers. This is to avoid movement of the wire and what is commonly referred to as bounce outs. A bounce out is when your darts hit a wire and bounce off the board instead of imbedding itself into the board, costing you your throw and ultimately points.
Choose a board carefully that will fit your playing and practice times.
Until next time, good throwing.
Allan Mathers
Dart Board Challenge
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