Soft dart tips don't really need "maintenance". Once soft dart tips are bended or broken just replace them.

Soft Dart Tips

If you are using "classic" steel dart then you don't have a choice for tips. The steel tip come with fixed tips that can't be replaced, or can only be replaced with workshop tools. However, there are steel tip with movable tips available. These steel dart tips are made for avoiding bounce-outs. These systems are quite good at that and usually reduce bounce-outs by 80 per cent or more.

Steel Dart Tips

Replaceable tip systems can be used on special steel dart tips from the movable tips manufacturer, or on normal and usually a lot cheaper soft dart tips (for possible compatibility problems see the barrels section).

Movable tip systems can be quite expensive. If you are a soft tipper and want to play or practice on a steel tip board on occasion and don't want to invest in movable tips then you can get cheaper "standard" replacement tips.

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Tungsten barrels threads of all usual tungsten darts are called "2BA" which follows a British norm. Older brass darts often have a 1/4 inch thread. These two threads are not compatible, 1/4 inch threads are as ancient as brass darts, so usually, there is no need to worry about that when buying a tungsten dart. Standard shafts or soft/movable tips you buy are equipped with the 2BA thread, so problems with incompatibility of the threads should not occur.

However, there are some pitfalls. Some dart manufacturers supply darts with "alternative" attachment methods. The shaft of this kind of dart isn't attached with a thread, it is attached through just a thin whole and a rubber tube to fix it. This system is unique -- as good or as bad as the thread system, but you have to take into account that for shafts for this system you will have to rely on the manufacturer. For other companies supplying a shaft only for such special series is not economical.
 

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The surface of the barrel is covered by knurling or rings for a safe grip on the dart. Again there is a vast selection of different surface shapes, and combinations of them. And there is the possibility of a plain surface (which beginners are usually unhappy with). Again, it can't be said which variations are the best ones. Choose what suits you, what feels good and what you think you can handle.

There is only one thing you should avoid: painted surfaces. Paint might look good, but usually it makes the dart only more slippery. The probably only exception here is Unicorn's "gold" brand. These darts are covered with a golden coat (I don't know what material this coating is. But it's not gold) which they say improves the grip. I have not experienced any differences with these darts, but some people seem to like them. Try and find out for yourself.  
 

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Today's standard material is Nickel-Tungsten. Tungsten is a very dense material, so darts with a considerable weight can be made quite slim. The invention of tungsten darts had a big impact on the sport. With the new darts it was possible to achieve much better grouping than before, and the averages in pro games have improved dramatically. It is not an overstatement when this development is referred to as "the tungsten revolution".

Before the tungsten revolution darts were mainly made of brass. Brass darts are still used by some players because they are much cheaper than Tungsten. But brass darts are ancient technology now, so I can't recommend them.

Because of technical difficulties with manufacturing a 100% tungsten dart is not available. All "tungsten" darts youcan buy are in fact made of tungsten alloys, with Nickel-Tungsten being the most common one. When you buy a dart the amount of tungsten in the alloy is given by a percentage number. So a common "80% Tungsten" dart has 80 percent tungsten and 20 percent Nickel, Copper and/or Ferro. Tungsten darts are available from 80% to over 90%. The more tungsten the slimmer - and the more expensive - the dart is. If the high-percentage tungsten darts are worth the higher price is an open question. Personally I think that 80% tungsten are good enough for almost everyone.

Remember: the only benefit from a high tungsten share is that the dart can be made slimmer than a dart with the same weight and a lower tungsten share. In no way do higher tungsten percentages indicate some sort of overall better quality or better machining.

Inrecent years a growing number of people has become allergic to Nickel. With Nickel-Tungsten darts being the standard equipment nowadays these people will have problems with their darts. There are a few darts available with different tungsten alloys, such as silver tungsten or copper tungsten. However, these darts are very rare. The major dart manufacturers don't supply them. If you are allergic to Nickel you will probably have to look for these alternatives.

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The barrel forms the main part of a dart. When we are speaking of "buying a (new) dart" we mean getting a new dart barrel. Nowadays barrels are available in almost every possible shape, with a wide selection of knurl or rings on the surface for a comfortable and safe grip.

The main barrel shapes are:

- cylinder
- ton
- torpedo

Some barrel shapes. The selection to the left shows barrels with 2 threads (soft tip), to the right are fixed-tip steel dart barrels.

It's not possible to say which one is the "right" one. Based on a very theoretical reasoning the long cylindrical barrel could be the best of them because it is the slimmest and allows the tightest grouping. Good for 140s and 180s. But this reasoning doesn't help you when you are not able to handle such a barrel. Selecting the right shape is a matter of personal preference. Choose what feels comfortable for you. This is much more important than an abstract or "academic" reasoning about theoretical advantages or disadvantages of some shapes.

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Dart weight is a never ending story. A lot of people want to know which weight they should throw, which weight is the most common one, what's the average weight and so on. There is no right answer to these questions. For the "average weight" question there probably is an answer, but it doesn't make much sense.

An example of two world champions:
Dennis Priestley throws 14 gram darts.
Raymond van Barneveld throws 26 gram darts.

If you ask the average question now the answer will be 20 grams, but does this make sense when the weights vary that much?

For a beginner steel dart player I recommend a barrel weight between 22 and 25 grams, which is slightly on the heavy side. The reason is that you need to develop a basic throwing skill in order to reach a certain initial level of play with darts on the heavy side. You would probably reach such a level a bit faster with lighter darts, but lighter darts don't force you to develop a somehow decent technique which will make later improvement a lot harder. Heavier darts also forgive slight technical inconsistencies (in other words: errors) better than lighter darts -- I like to tell heavier darts more "good-natured" because of this. The lighter the dart the more sensible it reacts to what you are doing -- slight intentional adjustments as well as slight technical errors or deficits.

Once you have got some darting experience and a decent technique you may find the heavier dart not that convincing any longer because of its good-natured behavior. If you then think you could use a dart that reacts more sensible you should consider going lighter.

Soft tip players won't have that much of a choice for their dart's weight. The limit set by the machine operators and leagues usually is below 20 grams. If you are a beginner in soft tip the only advice I can give you concerning the weight of your darts is start at the maximum allowed weight.　

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The fixtures for the remaining five weeks of the McCoy's Premier League Darts have been confirmed.

Following Thursday's Judgement Night in Brighton, Wes Newton and Gary Anderson have been relegated from the event and will play no further part in the tournament.

The remaining eight players will now play each other once more in the remaining five league nights, with six games being played in Dublin, Birmingham and Newcastle and five taking place in Sheffield and Liverpool.

Following Week 14 in Newcastle, the top four players from the league table will progress to compete in the Play-Offs at The O2 in London on Thursday May 16.

The Week Ten fixtures for the coming Thursday in Sheffield include the top-of-the-table clash between James Wade and Michael van Gerwen, with the 2009 champion also playing Adrian Lewis at the Motorpoint Arena and the Dutch ace also meeting Phil Taylor.

Week 11 at The O2 in Dublin includes two big matches for Dutch star Raymond van Barneveld, who takes on van Gerwen and Taylor, with the reigning champion also meeting Andy Hamilton on the night in Ireland.

Week 12 in Birmingham also features six games, with the all-Stoke clash between Taylor and Lewis opening the night before they return later on to play Whitlock and Thornton respectively.

The penultimate week of league action, in Liverpool on May 2, will see Hamilton meet van Gerwen and Wade, while the left-hander also meets Simon Whitlock, van Barneveld plays Lewis and Taylor meets Thornton in a repeat of their clash last Thursday, which the Scot won.

Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena will host the decisive league night on May 9, with the six games including Whitlock meeting van Barneveld and Lewis, Thornton playing van Gerwen and van Barneveld and Lewis also meeting Stoke rival Andy Hamilton, while Taylor plays Wade.

McCoy's Premier League Darts
Week Ten
April 11 - Motorpoint Arena, Sheffield
Robert Thornton v Simon Whitlock
Adrian Lewis v James Wade
Michael van Gerwen v Phil Taylor
Andy Hamilton v Raymond van Barneveld
James Wade v Michael van Gerwen

Week 11
April 18 - The O2, Dublin
Andy Hamilton v Phil Taylor
Raymond van Barneveld v Michael van Gerwen
Robert Thornton v James Wade
Simon Whitlock v Andy Hamilton
Raymond van Barneveld v Phil Taylor
Michael van Gerwen v Adrian Lewis

Week 12
April 25 - The NIA, Birmingham
Phil Taylor v Adrian Lewis
Simon Whitlock v Michael van Gerwen
Robert Thornton v Andy Hamilton
Raymond van Barneveld v James Wade
Phil Taylor v Simon Whitlock
Adrian Lewis v Robert Thornton

Week 13
May 2 - Echo Arena, Liverpool
Michael van Gerwen v Andy Hamilton
James Wade v Simon Whitlock
Robert Thornton v Phil Taylor
Raymond van Barneveld v Adrian Lewis
James Wade v Andy Hamilton

Week 14
May 9 - Metro Radio Arena, Newcastle
Simon Whitlock v Raymond van Barneveld
Michael van Gerwen v Robert Thornton
Andy Hamilton v Adrian Lewis
Phil Taylor v James Wade
Robert Thornton v Raymond van Barneveld
Adrian Lewis v Simon Whitlock

Play-Offs
May 16 - The O2, London
Semi-Finals
PDC Unicorn World Youth Championship Final - Ricky Evans v Michael Smith
Final

 As everyone knows, under the same weight of darts, most darts rod made from copper are very thick, but those made from tungsten are slender. Since darts can be put closely, the three times area becomes larger, making it so easy to score that it is very beneficial to a competent darts player. Compared with traditional brassinolide darts shaft, tungsten alloy darts shaft still has more outstanding advantages. For example, many more knurling pattern can be carved on the tungsten alloy darts rod, apart from not easy to be distorted, which makes the grip more powerful to reduce the situation of the slip probably existed.

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