Sharpening Darts
How-To, and How NOT-To,
Sharpen Darts Points!
A few years ago,
in a British televised match, a highly ranked
professional darter bounced 6 darts off of the
dartboard's wires within just a few minutes of
play.
Incredibly, this darts pro never
appeared to pay any attention to the condition or shape
of his points. Those possibly-winning throws ended up on
the floor, perhaps costing him thousands in tournament prize money.
All because he simply did not bother to keep his dart points
shaped properly, so that they would slide off the wires
and stick in the dartboard.
The
clear & obvious lesson was:
"It doesn't matter how well you throw your
darts,
if they won't stick in the dartboard!"
If you have a set of steel-pointed darts, you should have a
Darts Sharpener.
But, don't use it to sharpen your darts!
Yes, that sounds a bit odd, but darts should actually
have rounded points.
Sharp points will nick the wires, and bounce out a
LOT! Sharp points also "burr" easily, and those little
burrs will jerk fibers out of your dartboard when you
remove your darts after a throw.
New darts are nearly always way too sharp. Sharp
points look sexy in the package, ad are easy to make at
the factory. And, frankly, most people expect darts to be
sharp and might not purchase darts that appeared
dull.
The little "sharpening stone" should be used to remove
burrs that occur from the very tip of a sharp point
bending over to the side. Also use the stone to round off
the point.
A perfect darts point should look just like the end of
ball-point pen. Very round, much more so than most people
would imagine a dart point be.
Like the tip of a ball-point pen, a rounded darts
point will just slide off of the wires, instead of
nicking the wires and rebounding. Rounding your darts
points will greatly reduce your frequency of
bounce-outs.
Some darters feel that they should never "sharpen" or
touch-up their dart points at all. Unfortunately, natural
wear on darts points will not leave the points round..
they points will become flat on their ends.
A flattened dart point is even worse than sharp
points. A flat tip will nearly always bounce off when
hitting wires, as they cannot slide to either side. Such
a flattened or very blunt point will crush the
dartboard's fibers.
Bristle dartboards are made of natural sisal fiber,
similar to hemp. The fibers are compressed under high
pressure. Basically, a dartboard is like a dense brush..
and the darts easily stick into board by sliding in
between the fibers.
However, flat points compress a tiny section of fibers
each time they are thrown, so the dartboard soon becomes
very hard. Eventually, the entire dartboard is damaged,
becoming too hard for darts to stick easily.
Can you imagine a golfer playing with a damaged club, or
a baseball player using a seriously cracked bat? In any
sport, the condition of your equipment is important, and
requires attention & regular maintenance.
Keeping your dart points in good shape will make your dartboard last longer, and improve your scores. Just remember.. not too sharp, and
not too blunt.
Points with very rounded tips are "Just Right"!
So, the next time you see a darts "sharpening stone",
remember that it would be better referred to as a "Dart
Point Rouder". As that is a little awkward to say, most
people stick to calling it a "Sharpener".
Whatever you call that little abrasive stone, be sure
to use it often, particularly any time that a dart
bounces out, or falls to the floor.
CyberDarts Editor, Rick Osgood
