As I eluded to in my previous post, Keeping Busy During COVID (Part 1), I have tried to find projects that can keep me busy during the pandemic so I am not getting into trouble.

When I lived in my condo, it was too small to have a dartboard. When I would go up to Wasaga Beach and stay in my friend’s cottage, we would play darts all the time. I am not great at it but I love it.

As a sidenote, I still can not believe some days that on TV you can watch a dart tournament in what looks like a small stadium with bench seating and people (usually English) drinking and having a good time. That sounds like the life for me.

Because of my previous living circumstances, and occasional dartboard usage, I knew (in some capacity) that when I owned my own home I would install a dartboard somehow, someway.

When we moved into our home, the previous owner left old paint cans to match the walls and the current hardwood floor we have. One box was opened and pieces were used for something (most likely the basement stair landing) so there were a few pieces that were not being used.

Originally, I was going to use 2x4s that I had left over from my cantina project that my dad insisted I keep for future framing in the basement. It was not doing anything for me. The hardwood was calling me.

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About two weeks ago, I started by cutting one strip of hardwood into similar sized pieces and then glued two pieces at a time and then all six pieces at once. I wrapped a few bungie cords around them to hold it in place. I let that dry for a while and forgot about it.

This past weekend, I came back and built the supporting structure for this hardwood board. Once that was secure, I attached the hardwood board to it. Now I know some of you might be looking at this and thinking “why did he screw into hardwood?” or “why not glue this to the supporting structure?“

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The answer to both questions is simple. I was going for function over form here. It did not need to look too pretty.

Once that was done, I was pretty much done. The only thing left was to attach the dartboard….and voila!

I learned a few things along the way, similar to the LEGO project. When I put my mind to it, I can do a surprising amount more than I think I am capable of. The second lesson is, while this is a small project by everyone’s standard, I actually like this. I am not the best at this kind of handy work but if this helps me to become more handy, I will take it.

The only thing left to do to complete this is to add a whiteboard/chalkboard next to the dartboard to keep track and a rubber or carpet pad under the dartboard to catch any darts that fail to connect with the board.

Did you start and complete a project during the COVID pandemic? If so, leave a comment below and share what happened.