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What kind of wax is good to put on a rail??

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Macker
Posts: 84 - Karma: 19
i just made a metal rail and need to use wax on it, what should i get?
Oct 15 2010 12:39PM
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FUUUCK
Posts: 18426 - Karma: 4,888
why do you need to use wax on it?
Oct 15 2010 12:40PM
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Macker
Posts: 84 - Karma: 19
friends said i had to....
do you?
Oct 15 2010 12:43PM
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JahJahBinks
Posts: 3567 - Karma: 461
no
Oct 15 2010 12:55PM
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matt22matt
Posts: 272 - Karma: 17
dont wax rails lol. it will be fine unless your edges are extremely sharp.. in that case just unshapen them a bit.
Oct 15 2010 1:07PM
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montanan
Posts: 1787 - Karma: 1,346
yup thats a goood call there, thats what we do, very rarley do we use wax unless its fucking concrete or something haha
Oct 15 2010 1:11PM
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chardi
Posts: 5040 - Karma: 59
you usually won't have to wax your rail, but if you do, i have used candle wax. i don't know if it is different for metal rails, but i have just rubbed an old candle over pvc and put water on it and it actually makes it a lot faster.
Oct 15 2010 1:16PM
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jorb.co
Posts: 2581 - Karma: 468
on pvc rails i think its good to use just skateboard curb wax
Oct 15 2010 1:53PM
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Abc567def
Posts: 8756 - Karma: 801
yea i just use candle wax if i bother using anything
Oct 15 2010 1:55PM
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matt22matt
Posts: 272 - Karma: 17
 i dont know why you guys are talking about waxing pvc rails... they already slide so smooth and buttery. 
Oct 15 2010 1:55PM
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clark.
Posts: 308 - Karma: 14
At our mountain the rails are usually covered in rust, so we pick up big ice chunks and "wax" them with that. Your skis stick to the rust, not the actual metal. So as long as your rail is smooth you shouldn't need any wax.



Oh and make sure it's not aluminum cause you will catch your edge.
Oct 15 2010 2:31PM
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titsLOL
Posts: 7485 - Karma: 396
you shouldn't ever wax rails to ski on, especially pvc. I've used pam to bring an old dirty pvc back to life and that worked pretty well.
Oct 15 2010 3:09PM
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CREASTON
Posts: 765 - Karma: 1,981
for my friends backyard setup rail oneof us would scrape the rust off with a tail of a ski and then we would use our "special blend wax" to wax it and it would be like sliding on butter. It worked very well.
Special blend wax: A huge thing of normal candle wax melted down into a mold and compressed so the bonds were closer (I think?) But it slid a lot nicer than the wax unmelted.

If you have a nice enough rail though it shouldn't need wax.
Oct 15 2010 4:04PM
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PurpleDino
Posts: 1513 - Karma: 483
Why should you never wax rails to ski on? A lot of times rails get sticky from the coating and sure a little ice will work fine but sometimes it needs some wax to ride smoothly. And also why especially on pvc? I almost always wax my rails like once a session. PVC left outside gets real sticky and doesn't slide well. One rub of wax down and back and you're golden
Oct 15 2010 5:23PM
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The_Oakley_Kid
Posts: 3128 - Karma: 179
unless your rail is rusty, simple water is all you need, especially pvc... idk why anyone would wax pvc, that just sounds retarded to me

for concrete or something in extremely bad condition, candle wax is the cheapest and best imo
Oct 15 2010 9:45PM
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Ehh...
Posts: 1897 - Karma: 1,423
if its got rust, scrape the rail, if not you don't need it really. If you really into to waxing you can use some candle wax, don't get it warm, it won't work. Just try to keep it a bit colder.
Oct 16 2010 12:24AM
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PurpleDino
Posts: 1513 - Karma: 483
PVC gets quite sticky when it's left outside and usually just water doesn't work for me. probably depends on what size pvc you're using too.
Oct 16 2010 9:47AM
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matt22matt
Posts: 272 - Karma: 17
ive jibbed all types of different pvc sizes and lenghts and i never ever had to put wax on it.. in my experience pvc always slider smooth. actually ive never put wax on anything and ive done lots of street rails.. even a 50 foot wooden rail.
Oct 16 2010 9:55AM
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matt.s
Posts: 2502 - Karma: 93
i usually dont wax unless my rail has rust on it, but any old candle usually does the trick
Oct 16 2010 10:22AM
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MichSteeze
Posts: 536 - Karma: 12
.
Oct 16 2010 10:46AM
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Mr.Huck
Posts: 6096 - Karma: 14,896
Not correct.  Waxing your bases protects them; waxing PVC and metal protects it too.  The wax makes the rail slide more consistently.  No grippy spots.  When you get hung up, your forward edge can dig in and then you have a burr on your rail.  If you want your rail to stay nice longer, use wax. 

To OP, I use orange swix.  Brand doesn't matter but warm weather wax has worked great for me.  I just rub it on the PVC and it slides great.  Very predictable with no slow spots.  I have also used it on a crappy little skateboard rail.  Before wax no slide, after wax good slide.  I have not tried candle wax.  You could also try bees wax sold in every hardware store.  The reason I would go for ski wax though is that it will get on your bases too.  If you use candle wax or something else and you don't clean the stuff off and hot wax your skis again before the season, your skis may be butt slow on snow. 
Oct 16 2010 11:10AM
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s.nenkov
Posts: 14 - Karma: 35
if you are skateboarding you wound need wax for sliding stuff. not for skiing rails
Dec 4 2010 3:25PM
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3R1C
Posts: 367 - Karma: 14
Don't put wax on rails, they don't need them. Skis are slippery enough.
Dec 4 2010 7:15PM
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Jpurd
Posts: 3196 - Karma: 3,554
if you use like but wax it works pretty good i find
Dec 4 2010 7:16PM
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