LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Dartboard Cabinet, back panel material?

3K views 20 replies 11 participants last post by  000 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I am building a dartboard as a wedding gift. I have been wrestling with what to do for the back panel. Originally I was going to go with just some BB Plywood, perhaps painted, but now I really want to do something better. The cabinet is quarter sawn white oak, arts and crafts influenced design, and I am thinking of doing the interior drawers in walnut. Why not make the back panel in walnut as well? The concern I have is that the panel will be roughly 22×27. I am thinking best I can do is 3/8 thick. The cabinet won't hang on the wall through this panel, but the board will have to be secured to it. It would be floating of course in grooves, but will a panel of that size stay stable enough? Will it support the weight of the dartboard hanging on it ok through seasonal movement?

Rectangle Wood Wood stain Plywood Hardwood
 

Attachments

See less See more
2
#3 ·
No matter what you use, it will be torn up pretty quickly after moderate use… don't ask how I know :)
If I had to do it over again, I would make the back panel easily replaceable, and certainly would not use any pricey wood - plywood is just fine for the task.

Cheers,
Brad
 
#4 ·
Yeah, I have definitely thought of the "damage from darts" factor. I suppose I should just go with the plywood. I would love to go with the veneer option but I don't have the machinery to cut my own veneer at this time. Or maybe I just don't have the skill to try it yet.
 
#6 ·
Shouldn t it be covered in cork?

- Ripper70
Cork would be another nice option. You can get 1/8" thick cork sheets at art supply stores. The darts will go through to the wood but it will look nice for quite a while and could be scraped off and renewed.

For the OP, you do not need to cut veneer, you can order it online from a zillion places.
 
#9 ·
Pretty sure Amazon has it in tile or roll form. I've seen it in a light natural color or dark brown as well. A quicky google search yielded this site that has varying colors and thicknesses up to one inch.
 
#13 ·
How much cork? 22×27. Amazon has a few options where I could piece together some squares. I like the source that Ripper linked to for rolls of all sizes, but for the small amount I need, the shipping is just kind of silly to pay for. Might as well use the walnut!
 
#16 ·
I throw a lot of darts, nice darts Rich good 140, I don't have my board in a cabinet, I actually have a 4'x4' piece of drywall covered in an upholstery fabric remnant (wife selected and approved) which has a total cost of about $20. The drywall is soft enough to not dull the darts and the fabric fully conceals the misses. Some of the other folks in my league use carpet. I've seen some use the thin sheet roll of cork that quickly goes to crap around the board perimeter, but if you can find it pretty thick it should hold up better, sometimes they sell 3/8" 1 foot squares Don't call me crazy but, you might be able to find a complementary colored commercial carpet cut off to cover your backer.
 
#17 ·
kocgolf,

I used Homasote, as suggested by Jbay, as a substrate onto which the dart board hung in a cabinet. The cabinet hangs on the wall with a French Cleat; for ease of installation. The ½" thick Homasote sticks errant darts readily. It has been several years since the project was completed and the burlap covered Homasote backer has held up well.

My approach was to glue the Homasote to ½" thick plywood. The Homasote was covered with black burlap. It took two layers of burlap to conceal the black Homsote. The plywood was let into a dado cut into the sides of the cabinet and the cabinet portion of the French cleat attached to the plywood in the recess created when the dados were cut.

The black burlap was purchased at JoAnne's Fabrics, where they stocked burlap in a variety of colors.
 
#18 ·
Back when I had basement tossing lane, and was active in a dart league;
We used acoustic ceiling tiles as the backer board behind dart board. Ceiling tiles are significantly cheaper than cork that is thick enough to support hammer head dart and would prevent it bouncing on floor.
Tile was attached to plywood cabinet back with some double sided carpet tape. The mounting point for board was a square just smaller than board (turned 45 degrees to support 20/19 zones better), which also made picture frame of ceiling tile easy to trim to fit.
Would use spray paint on acoustic tile to add some color, preferred pink as it drove my testosterone overpowered opponents crazy. Another decorative option is stickers. One of my league mates used to put "bumper" stickers on his backer board. When sticker looked bad, he would apply another one.
If not ceiling tile, then foiks used plush carpeting samples. Higher thread count per inch, tighter backing weave and had better chance of darts sticking and not bouncing.
Best Luck.
 
#19 ·
Thanks for all the continued advice. I think I will take a look at the local crafts stores like Michaels and Hobby Lobby and see if they have some 3/8 cork rolls. I know the homasote may be the best, but it might be hard to source in smaller, and more affordable, amounts. I know my friend and his wife are hobby players, and likely will be using soft tip darts. I did but them a nice board that accepts either metal or plastic tip darts, but they have a young boy and I bet that, at least for a few years, they will be soft tip players.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top