How dartboards are made

A dartboard is a plant fiber pressed so hard that it closes up around each dart hole.

stations: 7
things upstream: 71
raw sources: 22
steps from the ground: 10

The short version

Most dartboards are built from sisal, a stiff fiber stripped from agave leaves. The fibers are braided into bundles, formed into tubes, sliced into wafers and pressed into a disc on a backboard. The surface is sanded, painted, and divided into scoring segments by thin metal wire.

Strip the sisal leaves

Sisal is a stiff, tough fiber from the Agave sisalana plant, the same genus that gives us tequila. A machine strips the skin off the leaves so only the strong fibers remain.

Goes in
Blue agave
Dry and brush the fiber

The stripped fibers are dried and brushed straight. A good board needs fibers that are uniform and stiff, which is why sisal beat horse hair in practice.
Braid into bundles

Fibers are braided into long bundles, and the bundles are formed into tubes.
Slice into wafers and press

The tubes are cut into thin wafers, which are then pressed into a circular disc and secured to a backboard. Density sets how hard the board plays and how well it heals.

Goes in
Adhesive
Sand the face

The face is sanded to remove the roughness of the raw fiber. How much is taken off changes how well the board closes up around holes, so it also changes how long the board lasts.
Paint the segments

The red, green and black colors go on in a low-glare paint, so a bright reflection does not distract a thrower.

Goes in
Paint
Press in the wire web

Thin wire divides the board into scoring sections. Traditional boards fix this web with more than 40 staples, and each staple is a place where a dart can bounce out. Staple-free designs use thinner wire that deflects darts into the segments.

Goes in
Steel wire

End of the lineDartboard

Worth repeating

Pub boards were solid elm until World War I, and had to be soaked every night so the dart holes swelled shut by morning.
Horse hair dartboards are a myth: animal bristles were never used, and sisal only looks like them.
The first sisal boards came from a British company, partly because wooden boards had an unpleasant smell.