My brother is a fervent darts player.

Recently he asked me if I could make him a dart holder that could hold 6 darts, 6 spare shafts, 6 spare flights, and his tablet as a digital scoreboard.

So I designed this dart holder and made one for him!
In this step-by-step instruction article, I show you how to build this beautiful dart holder with just a few pieces of scrap wood and a minimum of tools.

This dart holder can be made by anyone, even if you are not a woodworker or do not have a workshop.

Create a professional setting with this dart holder, practice on your 9-darter and play your own World Cup darts at home with friends or family. You hit the bullseye with this dart item.

Game on!

What is the purpose of a dart holder?

The purpose of this dart holder is the clear organization of darts and spare parts such as shafts and flights.
The dart holder also protects the point of the dart against damage.

As an extra benefit, this dart holder can hold a mobile phone or tablet where the score can be kept.

What dart app to keep the score?

A good dart app to install on your phone or tablet is the target dart counter. This app is available for both Android and iOS.

This app keeps track of the score, lets you know what score you should get on the next throws, and you can also play against the dart bot in addition to playing with others.

How to make a dart holder step by step

In short, you can make this dart holder of a long bottom plate with two blocks. In these blocks, 2×3 darts and 2×3 spare shafts can be placed.

On the outside of these blocks, there are 2 thin wood strips, so that 2×3 flights can be stored in the dart holder.
In the middle, a holder has been made by means of 2 long wooden strips, in which a phone or tablet can be placed and can serve as a digital scoreboard.

To make this dart holder, I used pieces of scrap white oak wood.
These were boards of 12 mm (0.472 Inch) in thickness, and 15 cm (5.90 Inch) wide.
However, you can make this dart rack with any type of wood you have available.
Even plywood can be used.

To make this darts item, I had 1 length of 55 cm (21.65 Inch) and 1 length of about 30 cm (11.81 Inch) available.
The square wood where the darts and shafts go was 4.5 cm by 4.5 cm (1.77 by 1.77 Inch), and about 30 cm (11.81 Inch) long.
With these dimensions and the exact dimensions that I will give you in this step-by-step guide, you can easily make this dart holder yourself.

At some points, you will see in the video and in this guide that, halfway through one step, I put them aside and move on to the next step.
Later in the process of making this dart holder, I come back to it and finish that step.
That is to give the wood glue time to dry out and still be able to continue working on the rest of the dart holder.

If you follow these steps as described, you should be able to make the dart rack in 3 to 4 hours.

So read each step In this blog carefully and learn how to make a dart holder.

Game on!

Step 1 | Making the base of the dart holder

To build this dart rack, I started with the longest board I had available.
After making a right-angled marking line at 50 cm (19.68 Inch), with a speed square and pencil, I cut this board to length with my Japanese handsaw.

Make sure you can clamp the board to the table, or have someone around to hold this board while you cut.
The more stable the wood lies during sawing, the neater the cut will be.

After cutting the board to length, I chamfered the edges.
With my sanding block, I made a 45-degree chamfer on each side.

I deliberately did not use a hand planer or router for this.
Since I’m assuming that not everyone is a woodworker who watches this video or blog, you may not have this material available.

You can make a sanding block, as shown in this video, but you can also just wrap a piece of sandpaper around a wooden block.
Make sure the sole of that block is flat, otherwise you’ll be applying more pressure at certain points when sanding, which will stop the wood from flattening.

The next step was to place the legs under the dart holder.

These were 2 cm (0.78 Inch) wide strips that I attached to the bottom with wood glue.

I placed these legs about 3 cm (1.18 Inch) from the edge of the board.
You can of course place these according to your own taste.

Notice how I place these feet flush with the edge of the board in the front, as they extend past the board in the back.

After the glue had dried, I cut them flush with the back of the board.
This way of working meant I didn’t have to measure and saw exactly beforehand, but I could use the edge of the board as a reference.
Like that, I was sure that this part was the right length.

Between gluing and sawing, I had about 30 minutes of drying time for the glue.
Here I could make all the preparations for the rest of this dart rack.
You can read more about that in the next steps.

Step 2 | Making the spare flights holder

From the 30 cm (11.81 Inch) long piece of white oak, I could cut 4 long strips.

These strips were 12 mm (0.472 Inch) wide, just like the height of the wood.

I have to admit, I made these strips behind the scenes with my table saw, but you can perfectly make them with the handsaw.
It’s just a little harder to make perfectly straight cuts.
If the cuts are not completely straight, don’t throw these strips away, here’s a handy trick to get them flat:

Take a long strip of sandpaper and stick it to a flat surface, such as a tabletop, with painter’s tape.
Place the strip, with the side you want to flatten, on the sandpaper, and go back and forth until you get the result you want.
It is best to use coarse sandpaper for this.

I previously wrote an article where you can learn all about sandpaper and how to choose the best sandpaper for the job you are working on, be it wood, paint, metal, or whatever material you want to sand.

Be sure to read this article!

I took 2 pieces of these long strips and divided them with the handsaw into 4 shorter pieces with a length of 13 cm (5.11 Inch).

After chamfering the edges at 45 degrees with the sanding block, I was able to attach these parts to the bottom plate.

I placed these strips in pairs with a small gap between them and will later serve to store the spare flights on this dart holder.

To place the first strip, I did this at a distance of 1.5 cm (0.59 Inch) from the edge of the board.

Note that the back of the strip is flush with the back of the board.

When placing the second strip, I placed an old bank card between these two strips.
This left a small hole when I removed the bank card back.
If you don’t have an old debit card, you can fold a piece of paper to the thickness you want the gap between these two blocks to be.

After gluing these 4 short strips, I put the board aside for a while and continued with the next step.

Step 3 | Making the scoreboard holder

While the glue in the previous step could dry, I was able to prepare the long strips.

These long strips will hold a cell phone or tablet that serves as a scoreboard.

The edges of these long strips were chamfered and sanded, just like I did with all other parts.

I glued the first strip to the bottom plate with wood glue. I did this at the same height as the ends of the short strips.
To do this, I used a long ruler to place it evenly.

The second strip needed to be placed 12 mm (0.472 Inch) behind the first strip. 
This distance can be adjusted to the thickness of the mobile phone or tablet that you want to use as a scoreboard.

To ensure that this distance between these strips is the same everywhere, I placed a spacer between them. In my case, the spacer block was a 12 mm (0.472 Inch) piece of MDF.

After gluing, the bottom plate could go to the side again, and I continued with the next step.

Step 4 | Making the dart holder

Now it was time to make the dart holder from the square wood.

From this small wooden beam measuring 4.5 cm by 4.5 cm (1.77 by 1.77 Inch), I was able to saw 2 pieces of 13 cm (5.11 Inch) in length each.

After sawing, I angled the edges in the same way as with all the other parts.

Three darts and three spare shafts can be placed in this block.

For the 3 darts, I drilled holes of 3 mm (0.11 Inch) in diameter with a distance of 3.5 cm (1.37 Inch).

I drilled the first hole at the front at a distance of 1.5 cm (0.59 Inch) from the edge.

At the back of this block, there was still room to drill 3 holes for the spare shafts.
I drilled these holes with a 6 mm (0.23 Inch) drill, on which I had placed a drill stop at a depth of 1.5 cm (0.59 Inch).
As a result, all shafts will be at the same height when they will be placed in this dart holder later.

Using a drill stop was not necessary with the darts.
However, keep in mind that you need to drill deep enough so that the barrel of the dart rests on the wood.

To drill the holes for the shafts, I did this at a distance of 1.5 cm (0.59 Inch) from the back and there was a distance of 1.5 cm (0.59 Inch) between the holes.

After drilling the holes, I chamfered the edges of the drill holes with a countersink.

Before I could attach these blocks to the bottom plate, slots had to be made in the short strips.

In the meantime, the glue on these strips had dried well, and I was able to make the slots without the strips coming loose.

These slots should be made perpendicular to the center slot and make sure the two slots form a cross.
This allows the flights to be held firmly in place.

I made these slots with the handsaw to a depth of 2 mm (0.07 Inch) from the bottom.

The spacing of the slots was 2 cm (0.78 Inch) from the ends and 1 slot in the exact center of the strips.

After making these slots, I trimmed the edges with a file and sandpaper to make them less sharp.

Now the blocks could be mounted last.
These blocks had to be placed flush with the strips at the front.
Again, I used my long ruler to align all the parts.

I placed the blocks in the center of the gap between the flight holder and the scoreboard holder.

Now the dart holder was ready, and I only had to finish the wood with a finish, so that the dart holder lasts a long time.

Step 5 | Preparation

To saturate the wood and to apply a protective layer, I used linseed oil.

I applied this linseed oil in one layer.
For this, I used a Stainpad microfiber cloth.
You can also use a regular cloth for this, but make sure that it does not fluff, otherwise, the fluff will stick to your dart holder.

There you go!
If you follow all the steps as I discussed in this step-by-step guide, you can easily make a dart holder yourself.
Even if you have no experience with woodworking, or do not have a workshop!

If you have any questions, you can always ask them in the comments, I will do my best to help you as best I can.

Now it’s a matter of getting the darts, shafts, and flights in the right place, and you can start playing your favorite sport.