Bull's Eye!

Score big points with your friends with this easy-to-build dartboard cabinet

- Mike Berner

A solid-wood dartboard cabinet typically starts at $150, and at that price, you’re getting one made of pine; you’ll pay much more for a premium hardwood. For the same cost, you can build a better one yourself, such as this one, which is stylish, durable and easy to make. There are no fussy miters or fancy joinery, and it’s made from standard board widths, so you don’t need a table saw. And if the aged-steel door panels don’t suit your style, you can substitute plywood panels to match the surrounding wood.

Tools and materials

We spent about $150 on the materials, which are available at any home center. You could save some cash by choosing different hardwood and hinges (we found ours online for $6 each!). You’ll need a pocket hole jig to replicate the dart storage system. To make perfectly matched plugs to hide the screws, you’ll need a plug cutting bit ($17 for a set of three sizes) and a drill press, or you could use a dowel or storebought plugs.

An angle grinder would be helpful for cutting the steel, but you’ll get a decent cut with aviation snips—without the sparks. You can have the panels cut to size at the home center or cut them yourself with a circular saw and straightedge guide. Just check the diagonal measurements before you make the cuts.

1 DRILL THE PLUG HOLES

Boreholes with a 3/8-in. Forstner bit in the drill press. They should be about 3/8 in. deep to make room for the plugs, so be sure to set the depth stop. You can bore the holes with a standard drill and bit using a stop collar, but you’ll get better results with a Forstner bit in a drill press.

2 MAKE PLUGS