How to Make a Homemade Rail for Skiing

A ski rail is a long, thin rail that can be jumped onto and slid across while skiing. This allows a skier to perform grinding tricks similar to those done by skateboarders and snowboarders. While you will need to go to a ski lift in the mountains to practice other downhill skiing tricks, you can build a ski rail at home to practice rail slides at home. A ski rail can easily be made at home using PVC pipes for the rail and cut lumber pieces for the supports.

Things You'll Need

  • Table saw
  • Tape measure
  • Electric drill
  • Two 12-foot long, 2-by-4-inch boards
  • Three 12-foot-long, 3-inch diameter PVC pipes
  • Three 10-foot-long, 2-by-4-inch boards
  • One box 3-inch-long screws
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Instructions

    • 1

      Make a mark 3/4-inch from the end of one of the pipes. Put the 3/16-inch diameter bit into the drill and drill through the mark. Keep the drill held straight and drill through the other side as well so that you have matching holes on both sides of the pipe. Drill two 3/16-inch holes on the other end of the pipe, in the same relative positions as the first two holes.

    • 2

      Drill one hole in each end of the other two pipes, 3/16-inch diameter, 3/4-inch from the ends. The holes must be in he same positions along the circumference, so that a straight line could be drawn from one to the other.

    • 3

      Place the pipe with four holes down on the ground, place the other pipes on either side. Rotate the pipes so that the holes all line up with each other. Push the bolts through each of the holes, thread the nuts onto the bolts to hold the pipes tightly together.

    • 4

      Place one of the 10-foot boards on your workbench. Measure and mark intervals of one foot along the board. Crosscut the board with the table saw on the marks. You should be left with 10 equal length pieces.

    • 5

      Place one of the other 10-foot boards on the workbench. Measure and mark intervals of 10 inches along the board. Crosscut the board with the table saw on the marks.

    • 6

      Place two 1-foot pieces on their ends. Place one of the 10-inch pieces on top, resting on the 4-inch wide side. Position the pieces so that the ends of the 1-foot pieces are flush with the edges of the 10-inch piece. Drill two screws through the 10-inch piece into the ends of both 1-foot piece. Turn the pieces on the side, so that the long edges of all three pieces are resting on the work bench. Place one of the 18-inch boards up against the other ends of the 1-foot pieces. Attach the the 18-inch board to the rest of the unit by drilling through the board and into the ends of the 1-foot pieces. Repeat with the rest of the pieces until you have five roughly square units.

    • 7

      Place two of the rectangular pieces on the ground, 12 feet from each other. Both units should be standing on their 18-inch long sides, with the 10-inch sides facing up. Place the other three pieces evenly spaced in between the first two, standing on the 18-inch ends as well. These pieces are the supports for the ski rail.

    • 8

      Place the 12-foot long boards through the gaps in the five supports, so that they are resting on the 18-inch long boards. Push the boards to the edge of each support so that they are flush with the sides. Drill screws through both boards and into the base of each support. Drill through the sides of each support so that the screws connect with the 12-foot long boards.

    • 9

      Put the connected PVC sections on top of the supports. Lie underneath the pipes with the drill and put screws through the top board of each support into each pipe.