Evolution of the dart
Darts used to be made of wood with lead weights in to make them as heavy as possible. This made the barrels too fat to score 180s with easily.
Next came brass darts.
They were not as fat as the wooden darts so that was good.
The thin brass darts were too light for most players to control well.
Brass darts in the easy to throw weight range still had quite a fat barrel.
Finally the 90% tungsten dart made it possible to provide top darts players with what they always wanted, a narrow heavy barrel. (24g to 30g)
Myth busting the floating point.
The idea of this innovation was to stop the darts bouncing out when you hit a wire by making the point wobble a bit so it slides off the wire and sticks in the board.
This idea was introduced in UK in the 1980s and was more or less a failure there.
Manufacturers re-introduced the idea in USA where it has met with more approval.
FYI. Darts bounce out when they hit a wire because either the point is too sharp, or it is flat with burrs on it. A good point is round and fat like a ball point pen. A nicely rounded point slides better off the wire.
The first thing you need to do after buying new darts is to round down the point a lot.
Shaft protectors
The picture below shows my wife's dart with a homemade shaft protector sleeve (1), and a shaft with a spring on it (2).
The picture below is of my dart.
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Myth Busters. Flights, shafts, barrels.
Most players have opinions about darts shafts, flights and barrels. Which is the best shape, which is the best weight, which flights and shafts do this or that better and last longest, etc. Some opinions a based on fact. Some opinions are based on the ludicrous advertising claims of the manufacturers.
1/ Myth busting barrels.
Let's deal with making the things first as it's not hard to understand. You get some finely powdered tungsten, you get some powdered nickel (90% to 10% is a good ratio). You cinter them. That means you heat up the mixture till the nickel bonds with the tungston to make a solid shape.
As far as barrel shapes and weights go, my good friend Scotty Wood put it very well a few days ago when he said, "If you are any good at darts you can play with more or less anything." He then went on to prove this by playing perfectly well with four completely different sets I leave lying around in my dart's cabinet for visitors to use. He won the game of 'half-it' we were playing at the time by over 100 points.
Of course if you are not very good at darts yet, then you want the easiest shape and weight to throw with. Something like this is fairly easy to throw with, and many, many, popular sets are more or less this shape.
For Example:
Authentic Black Widow : 1.915” (48.64mm) X .283” (7.19mm) : 26g
suggested retail $165)
In my opinion, the only problem here is the price.
Imitation : about 50mm x 7.5mm : 26g
suggested retail $65
Just the thing we're looking for. Problem solved!
You can buy this set here for $55.
When buying darts, remember that the only thing that really affects the value of the dart is it's tungsten content. Darts don't throw any better just because they have a picture of Phil Taylor or John Lowe on the box. Unless you are buying brand name darts, 90% tungsten darts should cost about $25 - $60 if you buy online. Try not to pay more for gimmicks that don't improve your throw in any way.
2/ Myth busting weight.
If you play well with a light dart, this may not apply to you, but many people find light darts less forgiving than the heavier models. When you are on form there is no problem, but if you aren't playing your best, little errors creep into your throw. The lighter dart tends to react more to the error than the heavy dart does. Because it is lighter, it is easier to accidentally push it off course.
Many people expect ladies to throw better with light darts. In fact ladies throw best within the same weight range as men, 24g - 30g. Some ladies may prefer the lighter end of the scale, or maybe not. My wife plays best with 29g so I guess weight depends on what you get used too. I suggest you try a mid-weight dart first, say 26g. Most players have no trouble throwing these.
Tungston darts were invented to make a thin heavy barrel possible. Dart making companies try to promote lighter tungsten darts (under 24g) because the weight of tungsten is less so their profit margin is greater. That's the main reason they make them.
3/ Myth busting flights and shafts.
(buy shafts.) (buy flights.)
The only aim here, is to be able to throw a tightly grouped bunch of darts without the flights and shafts breaking and the flights knocking the darts out. Manufacturers keep coming out with new ideas. The cheapest, most bendable flights were soft poly reseal flights. I found they also lasted a long time too. Unfortuately these are hard to find now.
The truth is that most shafts and flights break, or tear, or knock your darts out, so it's a matter of finding the least troublesome combination at the best price. Nylon shafts break easily. Aluminum shafts bend and tear up your flights. Thick hard flights knock your darts out. Spinner shafts break with nylon flight holders, tear up your flights with aluminum flight holders and cost a lot more than the other types.
There is no perfect solution to this problem, so I do this.
Flights: I buy Nylon "RipStop" flights and stick long flight protectors on them.
Shafts: I buy nylon and stick home made shaft protection sleeves on them so they don't break very often. The pic. left shows my wife's darts with sleeves made from electrical wire covering.
I put these on for her at least two years ago and no shafts have broken since. Since then I discovered it is better to use quarter inch nylon plumbing tubing so that's what I put on my own darts.
The last time I changed a shaft was three months ago because it fell on a stone floor and the shaft snapped off at the barrel end. I can't remember the last time I changed a flight, or changed a shaft because the flight holders snapped off.
I have no problem with robin-hooded darts since I started doing this, the flight protectors deflect following darts and the nylon sleeves won't let the shaft ends split off even if they get hit.
You can buy shafts with little springs on them too but they cost a lot more and I find the springs aren't so good as sleeves.
Some of my friends think using sleeves is a silly idea, but it works for me.
You can try it free. Go to Home Depot or Lowes and get a two inch sample piece of quarter inch plumbing tubing. They sell it by the yard so will happily give you two inches as a sample if you ask.
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