# Making shad shaped bodies



## Bester (Dec 29, 2007)

So far all my building has revolved around turned crankbaits. I would like to try making shad shaped bodies and was wondering if you guys could share your methods of getting that shape. Any info/advice would be greatly appreciated. I was thinking of starting with flat cedar stock. Thanks for any help


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## Bester (Dec 29, 2007)

Wow, nobody shapes lures from square stock?


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## fishfray (Jul 19, 2012)

I make all of my plugs out of rectangular planks. I cut a block to the desired length, width, and height. Than I draw in pencil the side and top views. I cut out 1 dimension with a bandsaw, then tape the block back together and cut the other dimension. I round the edges with either a disc or 1 in belt sander, then I hand sand. It is probably much more time consuming than turning plugs, but you can make A wider variety of shapes.


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## Bester (Dec 29, 2007)

cool. Thanks


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## justWrightbaits (Jun 29, 2012)

I make my lures from 3/4-1" cedar, tracing my body shape onto the board, cutting with a jigsaw then just router the edges.

Mark


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## Bester (Dec 29, 2007)

what router bit do you use?


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## JamesT (Jul 22, 2005)

I draw the general shape on the side of a block of wood then cut out with band saw. Then i belt sand, hand file, hand sand, and dremel sand to get the desired shape. Lots of hand sanding as a final step to make things "perfect". All steps done "eyeball only" method. I glue in hardware, no thru wiring.

Depending on how "completely rounded" vs "flat sided" you want the final body to be will determine the starting thickness of the wood block. If you want a completely rounded bait your starting block thickness will probably be 10-15% thicker than the thickness of finished body.

The process is time consuming and/as most of my baits are fairly small.


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