Some people do not know that when purchasing steel tip darts you will need to sharpen the tips often to keep them in good shape. All steel tip darts will need this type of maintenance. Many dart players, particularly new players, do not know how to properly sharpen their darts. One of the first and most important things to know when sharpening your darts is that you want to sharpen it to have a rounded point not a sharp point. When you have sharp points it can knick wires and jerk out fibers in the dartboard when removing your dart after a throw. A very common problem when darts are too sharp is that it will bounce out much more frequently than with rounded points. Most people don’t know that when you first purchase steel tip darts, that they are actually too sharp to play with and should be rounded off before playing your first game.

You will want your dart tip to appear like a ball point pen tip. You want all jagged edges removed and the point is rounded off with your sharpening stone. The stone is used most frequently to round off the tips of your darts. If your point is rounded off correctly then the point will slide off the wires easily without damaging them. Rounding off your dart tips reduces the number of times you will have a bounce out. If your points are left unsharpened then they will flatten on the ends, they do not round off on their own!

Flat tips are much worse than having a point which is too sharp. Flat tips will almost always bounce off the board and flat tips can crush the fibers not just damage them over time. Flat tips cause much more damage to your board and your darts themselves. Flat tips compress part of the board each time they are thrown because it is impossible for it stick into the board properly. This causes the board to become very hard and it is completely ruined after that.

When playing any type of sport you want to make sure all items you use are in good condition and kept well maintained. The sharpener is a crucial piece of equipment you always want to keep handy when playing with your steel tip darts.

Until next time!

-Tony