Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Robin Wood

What a Robin Hood called when done with wooden darts? A 'Robin Wood' of course! The odd thing about this is there is nothing for a tip to get stuck in like on a regular dart. With these widdies the stem and barrel are all one piece. nonetheless, the points were sharp enough that one of them found purchase. This is by far the most unusual Robin Wood I have ever hit.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Sliced Bread

The Winmau Wall Clamp is the world of darts' version of Sliced Bread. It is seriously that awesome. I can swap between dartboard in a snap:



Here you can see it with the Unicorn Surround applied over the board. The device is so streamlined that the surround goes on without so much as a whimper.



Here is a close up of the Clamp/Surround combo.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Raymond van Barneveld Triple B Darts

Going on the recommendation of Wazza180 I decided to purchase a set of Raymond van Barneveld Triple B darts. I placed an order with http://www.9dartshop.com and they were at my door step exactly one week from the date of purchase.

When I opened up my package I was pleasantly surprised to find just more than my darts inside. 9dartshop also included two sets of flights and a Unicorn Checkout card. Certainly not expensive items but it is the little things like this that brings customers back. Nice touch. :)



The Triple B darts come with long nylon shafts, 1 set of flights and a plastic slim case. The barrel isn't as agressive as I would like but there is a nice feel to them. The length is about 1.8 inches long.



For the first few throws I decided to keep the long shafts on. Add a set of standard Ruthless RX4 flights and I was off to the board. The Triple B flew great with the long shafts. Landed in the board at a perfect angle. The only problem I ran into was the jabbing of myself in the cheek. The shafts are just too long for my throw and when I would hit my cheek the dart would slip changing my finger placement on the barrel.

Here is an upclose picture of the Triple B barrel.

Friday, August 11, 2006

15th Lifetime Ton-80

With yesterday's hit not only did I get my 15th ton-80 under my belt, I also tied my ton-80 number for last year at 6. So one more and I will have accomplished my first new years resolution for this year (to hit more ton-80's this year than last).


My favorite aspect of this particular maximum though is the fact that it came on the back of my newly discovered Unicorn Big Brass Beauties, as I am calling them. Not only did I squeeze them all in the treble but if you'll notice, there is plenty of room left over for more. In fact nearly half the treble is unobstructed. I could hit a symetrical ton-80 into the other half! (Well, okay maybe I couldn't but Steve "Magic" Coote or Paul Williams could.) I have been told by so many people that they wish their darts were skinnier or that they were looking for some skinnier darts so that they could fit in the triple 20 better. In fact it is a commonly held belief that skinnier darts have the effect of improving your average over the course of game for this reason.

I cannot help but to balk at that a little.

Afterall, the Late Great Jim Pike probably never threw a tungsten dart in his life yet he is credited with darts feats the current msters could only dream of. If it is so hard to fit modern brass darts into a treble how could he have become the legend that he is? Have you seen the darts that were commonly used in that era? There are huge by comparison yet modern brass darts still have the stigma of being too big. Listen to this story:

When I was in league in Seattle during my last season there some of our teammates did not show up for the match. One because he was mad at another teammate, one because he was lacking in the commitment department, and one because of I cannot remember. So our captain runs accross the street to a different bar to try and find a sub (we were in the Knarr). He comes back with a guy who normally plays A League, but was not on a team that season (which is the only reason he could sub). He has no darts with him so we offer to loan him some for the evening. I had my Rhino's with me, but I was using my Widows. I offer him the Rhinos (brass darts with a tungsten tip) and he looks at me like I am crazy, and says:

"No way I am not throwing those, they are way too fat."

There was no way in heck I was going to give up my Widows to this guy so someone else lent him darts, and he proceeded to throw rubbish all night, whereas I had a good evening. I cannot remember if we won or not. But I do remember that while he could not hit the red side of a barn, he did allow us to not have to forfeit, for which I am certainly grateful. However this is how I wish it had played out in hindsight, afterall my game was on, and his was off:

"No way I am not throwing those, they are way too fat." (him)
"Okay, no worries. Throw these Widows and I'll throw the Brass. Lets play a quick game to warm up." (me)

I am certain I'd have beat him. I think that the thickness of a dart may have some minor effect on hitting your triples but not that much. I'd say that nailing a Maximum is 99% ability, and maybe 1% real estate. If that. Anyway, after the match that night I hit my first ever White Horse in a game against a teammate. I was definitly on.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

For those who love Accudart...

During my never ending search to find a set of Accudart Pro-Line Masters I stumbled across an Accudart lot on eBay. I’ve always been interested in anything related to Accudart. The price was right so I placed a bid on the auction. A few days later I received an e-mail saying I won the bid. Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.


As you can see this was a pretty nice find. I received
  • 2 - Series 301 Tungsten-Brass Darts
  • 2 - Series 650 Brass Darts
  • 1 - Series 501 Nickel-Silver Darts
  • 1 - Series 501 Brass Darts
  • 1 - Tun 80 Tungsten Alloy Darts
  • 1 - The Variant Tungsten Adjustable Weight Darts
  • 4 - Spare feather flights

Here is a picture of the Accudart Variant. Perhaps an idea way ahead of its time. A fun set to toss. Ideal for the tinkerer in all of us. There are 36 different ways that you can configure the weight of these darts. From 12.5 grams all the way up to 28 grams.



Here is a picture of the Accudart Tun 80. The weight is 24 grams and they are fuzz under 2 inches long. These darts fly nicely using the long shafts provided with standard flights.


More pictures of the entire Accudart package can be found on my gallery.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Earning a Trip to League Night

Tonight is my first team practice in anticipation of the next league season and I am quite excited about it. Playing darts at home is fun enough when I occationally do it but there is nothing like pounding your teammates (and getting pounded lol). So in prep I decided to take a look at what darts I would bring with me tonight. I have lots to choose from and I figured I would end up going with something forward weighted, something maybe mostly smooth like the GT's perhaps. I might even have broken out the old 16 grammer converts I was so fond of last season. Regardless, the underlying assumption was that the darts would be tungsten.


The above Hat Trick +1 was scored last night in casual tossing and it struck me how nicely these big old at brass beauties from unicorn threw. They feel really good in the hand especially compared to some of the skinnier tungsten darts I have been tossing lately. So I played with them all night last night and Gosh Darn!! (excuse the language) I was hitting everything I aimed at! Tons of 60's (that's easily my favorite dart pun), I was nailing the doubles first or second dart etc.

So if the quality of a dart were measured in cubic yardage, these massive brass beauties would take the first prize. They are easily the largest non-wooden dart I own and yet they throw so surprisingly well. I guess it is important to note I did not hit any maximums with them last night but this was not due to the barrels being too big to all fit in the treble, it was an aiming issue, a PEBHAD issue, really. I did hit lots of tons and lots of 120+ scores so I think these darts are the winners. They have earned a place in my arsenal for tonight and they will enjoy the glory of crushing my dart enemies. Well, my dart teammates, really.

FAST FORWARD:: Well, last night's team practice came and went and I really enjoyed getting out and tossing again. I took the brass darts like I said I would and as I expected I only dropped two legs out of the entire three hours I was playing. Once cause I couldn't hit the double four to save my life (although when I started at it I had a 150+ point lead) and once against some guy that was in there shooting with his wife. I played him a best of three and did well. I lost the first cricket game to him, but then cam back in a 501 game and hit several tons, and won by a landslide. Infact, not only did he have about 250 points remaining, but I hit my out quickly. I took out a 39 s19, s10, d5. Then we decided to tie break with another game of cricket and I won with lots of good darts. The best highlight of the night though, was hitting a hat trick to win a cricket game against one of my teammates. That always feels good.