All materials degrade over time. Common wear and tear affects everything from electronics, vehicles, structures, and sports equipment.

As a darts player, you will learn about this soon enough when your darts and accessories begin to show the start to show signs of deterioration. When this happens you will likely have to replace a few things.

However, if you own a self-healing bristle dartboard you won’t have to worry about replacing it for quite a while. But, what is a self-healing dartboard? How do you know if your dartboard is self-healing? Read below to find out.

What Is A Self Healing Dartboard?

A self healing dartboard is designed to close up the holes left by the darts once they have been removed. This “self-healing” is a feature of sisal dartboards, and it greatly prolongs the life of the board.

More About Self-Healing Dartboards

Whether it is due to environmental conditions, accumulated damage, or simply age, eventually you will have to replace your dartboard. However, by purchasing a self-healing dartboard you will be able to use your dartboard for much, much longer before having to look for a replacement.

So, let us answer two very important questions in case you are wondering:

  • What is a self-healing dartboard?
  • How does the board heal itself?

A self-healing dartboard is a dartboard that has the capacity to mitigate the surface damage caused by repeated play.

Keep in mind that when the sharp, steel-pointed end of a dart hits a dart board’s surface it creates a small hole in the bristles. Over time, these holes accumulate and create an uneven dartboard with an unsightly appearance.

Paper dart board with lots of holes
This paper dartboard is not self-healing

Playing on a dartboard with a degraded surface is bound to cause problems, and negatively affect your performance.

However, a self-healing dartboard actively “heals” these tiny holes, preventing their progressive accumulation and eventual destruction of your board.

How Can A Dartboard Heal Itself?

To be fair, the term self-healing is a bit of a misnomer when it comes to dartboards.

While there are plenty of materials that can legitimately heal themselves, these typically require some form of advanced sensing and actuation mechanisms.

The self-healing capabilities of some dartboards are not due to advanced nanotechnology, but rather to the intrinsic natural qualities of sisal fiber.

Sisal dartboards are self healing

So, while not all dartboards are made out of authentic sisal fibers, all self-healing dartboards certainly are.

As you may or may not know, sisal is a stiff and very durable natural fiber that is widely used to make rope, a variety of textiles, and the very best dartboards.

Sisal fiber dartboards are made by braiding the tough fibers into long bundles, which are then packed into tubes. These tubes are then sliced into thin cross-sections, which get stacked to give the dartboard the necessary depth and heft.

Due to this manufacturing process, the sisal fibers in high-quality dartboards are very tightly packed. So tightly wound that any holes created by darts hitting the surface of the board, “close off” as soon as the dart is removed.

This is what we mean when we say that some dartboards are self-healing. This isn’t to say that self-healing dartboards will last forever. Just like any other product, you have to take care of your dartboards in order to prolong their useful life and protect your investment.

Our favorite sisal dartboard is the Winmau Blade 6. If you are in the market for a new board this is the best you can get. Hop on over to Amazon and check it out

WINMAU Blade 6 Triple Core Carbon Professional Bristle Dartboard
  • The Blade 6 offers the world's most Technically Advanced Dartboard
  • Sixth Generation Blade Technology
  • Density Control and Triple Core Carbon