Rounding not sharpening your darts
If you have a set of steel-pointed darts, you need a Darts
Sharpener although it would be better referred to as a “Dart Point
Rounder”.
You don’t use it to sharpen your darts, you use it to round off the
points smoothly. 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 great
in the package, and 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 should be. (see pic left)
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. The points will
become flat on the 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 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
in easily.
The condition of your equipment is important, and requires attention
and regular maintenance. For both improved scoring and longer dart
board life, keep your dart points in good shape, not too sharp, and not
too blunt.
Points with very rounded tips are just right! |
