How To Clean A Horsehair Dartboard

Dartboards can last a long time if you look after them properly, and part of that involves keeping them clean. How to clean your dartboard can depend on how use it, or how long since you have used it. Today I decided to dig into this topic and see what more I could learn.

So, how do you clean a dartboard? Remove the wire frame that divides the board and has the numbers for each wedge on it. Vacuum any large pieces of dirt away. Gently dab a very MILDLY damp cloth over the surface of the dartboard. Do not let your dartboard get wet. Leave exposed to sunlight to get rid of mildew.

As always there are a few caveats to the above advice. Other factors come into play, like the fact that you wouldn't clean an electronic dartboard the same way you would clean a bristle dartboard. Keep reading to find out more.

Cleaning a Dartboard

In general, you are most likely playing either with an electronic dartboard, a bristle dartboard, a cork dartboard or a wooden dartboard. Each will have their own cleaning process.

How to Clean an Electronic Dartboard

Electronic dartboards are generally plastic and use soft tipped darts. There is not much to cleaning these types of dartboards. All you have to do is to get a dry cloth and wipe down the dartboard. Please make sure that it is a dry cloth and not a damp cloth. These dartboards have sensitive electronics behind the plastic cover to keep track of your score and getting a little water on them will destroy those electronics.

I would also suggest for you to get a cotton bud, the kind you use for cleaning your ears and cleaning out the holes in this dartboard as well. Have you ever had dust get stuck in the earphone jack of your mobile phone? It breaks the contact with your earphones so your phone won't detect them and continue to use its normal speaker. The same thing will happen with your electronic dartboard.

Remember that the darts you are using will be lying around, maybe next to someone's bag of chips, maybe they will have been held in someone's sweaty hands for a while, the point is they are picking up dirt. As you throw them they will start to transfer that dirt to the board. Not much cleaning is needed on these dartboards, which should make it easier.

How to Clean a Bristle or Cork Dartboard

Bristle dartboards are by far the most common steel tip dartboards out there. They're constructed from compact sisal fibers that move back into position when the dart is taken out of the board, thus filling in the hole. Cork boards are not as long lasting as they don't have this self – restoring effect of bristle boards. They are cheaper however and so simply buying a new one should not be that big a deal.

Both are cleaned in a similar fashion. First remove the metal frame from the board. You can then take a scrub brush or a low pressure vacuum cleaner and go over the surface of the board. This should remove any large clumps of dart. Next get a dry cloth and wipe down the board to get rid of those finer bits of dirt.

Some people would advocate for you to use a damp cloth or light spray of water here, but that is generally a bad idea. If you want to use a damp cloth just make sure that if you wring it, as if you want to squeeze the water out of it, that no actual water comes out. That is the absolute maximum level of dampness the cloth should have.

Sometimes cork dartboards will become dried out. To deal with this situation lay the board flat on the ground. Get the damp cloth described above and leave it covering the dartboard overnight. The next day the board should have become sufficiently hydrated to use again, otherwise just get a new one.

One last tip is for you to rotate the wire frame when placing it back on your board. We all have our favourite numbers to aim for (twenties mostly…). This means that a lot of the wear and tear will be concentrated on only a few wedges of the dartboard. Rotating it will help to spread that wear and tear evenly around the board and thus extend its lifetime.

Cleaning Mold and Mildew Off of a Dartboard

If you haven't used your board for a while and then dig it up to find it has grown some mold or mildew then you will need to clean that off. The best way is not to use any sort of chemical as that can damage the board. Simply wait for dry sunny day, maybe a few in a row and leave your board out in the direct sunshine.

The sunlight will bleach the board and cause the mold and mildew to die off. It may also cause the colour of your board to fade. I'm hesitant to say you can simply paint those wedges again because, as you will see in the next couple of sections, letting any sort of liquid contact your board is a bad idea. Even the same environment that caused the mold and mildew to grow on your board may have caused some damage to your board as well because of the humidity in the air.

How to Clean a Wooden Dartboard

Wooden dartboards are not something you see every day. They were used a lot before bristle and electronic dartboards came around. These are somewhat more difficult to maintain and require regular cleaning. Because they are made of wood you need to clean and moisturise them with some wood polish regularly. Without this they may dry out and start cracking.

These types of dartboards also have a tendency to smell and are traditionally played with wooden darts. Because of this you probably won't see them too often.

Should you Soak your Dartboard?

This is a big question that comes up on the topic of cleaning your dartboards and so I am going to address it directly. You should NEVER soak your dartboard. Soaking a dartboard to clean it is a myth started before bristle boards came about.

Bristle and cork boards will swell if you soak them. This swelling will cause all sorts of deformities on your board which will reduce its longevity, from bubbling and buckling of the board to air pockets among the board's bristles. It can also cause mold and mildew to start growing on your board, which is never nice.

Don't let any liquids touch your board. Don't store your board in a damp or humid area. It is a bad idea.

How Often Should you Clean Your Dartboard

You don't need to clean your board that regularly. If you have an electronic dartboard then cleaning it will take all of thirty seconds. You could probably do it as part of your regular tidying up of your game room.

For a bristle or cork board you should maybe clean it every couple of months. You definitely should not be fretting if it has just been a few weeks.

The only dartboard I would recommend cleaning regularly is the wooden dartboard, maybe once every two or three weeks. Honestly, though you can just eyeball this and keep an eye on your board. If you notice it's looking a little worse for wear give it a clean. That's all.

There are other things you can do as well to keep your board from getting too dirty, like keeping your darts clean and sharp. Prevention is better than a cure.