Carving concave face on salmon plug

[Gurk]

I am wanting to turn some basic diy salmon plugs. I would like to know if anyone knows how to carve the nice symmetrical concave face of a salmon plug. I noticed they are almost like a bowl and not just a swath cut through it. Anyone know how thats done? 

[Anglinarcher]

A Dremel tool, with a stead hand, and lots of practice????

[Hillbilly voodoo]

Sanding stones, sanding drum, dremel, rasps, and sand paper/pocket knife combo are all things I have and still use to make concave faces 

all depends on the depth and style I am going for. But my plugs are a little different then what is normally done on a lathe. I had carve all my bodies and they are not the conventional design you gave as an example 

[Travis]

If carving by hand then get a hook knife.  it makes fairly short work of it if you can comfortably hold the lure.  Longer lures easy.. short lures power tools.

Edited December 16, 2021 by Travis

[JD_mudbug]

I use everything above depending just how I feel. I cut the general angle on a table saw for repeatability. You can use a vice and hand saw too. Just use something like a piece of leather to protect the wood in the vice or make or get some vice soft jaws. I use a Dremel with the bullet, ball or drum shaped bits. Some are metal, some are stone, some are a hard rubber for attaching sand paper to. I also use carving knives and sandpaper glued or held onto dowels. Curved carving gouges will also work.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Carving-Tools-Mallet-Carving-Chisels-and-Gouges-Sharpening-Stone-for-Woodworking-Wood-Carving-Tools-Set-With-Toolbag-Starter-Set-of14-15pcs/610843418?athcpid=610843418&athpgid=AthenaItempage&athcgid=null&athznid=siext&athieid=v0&athstid=CS004&athguid=tcVZFDGl1uN0vmeaZKcpYJZQ-efcL4fzOSDb&athancid=null&athena=true

I have some concave faces I started by using the largest drill bit that fit into a drill or drill press and just using the tip of the bit followed by sanding.

If you are looking for the exact same curve time after time, I would build a jig out of wood to hold the lure at an angle and drill the cup with a drill press and a ball burr bit.  I have made spitting type poppers this way which have a very similar face to those Jplug type lures. The popper body is carved and weighted differently so the the face sits upside down compared to the Jplug. The narrower curve is at the bottom and the wider curve at the top so it spits a lot of water forward.

[mark poulson]

I would add, "Don't be afraid of carving a little too deeply, or too perfectly."  I've found that I can use bondo to repair anything that's too deep, and smooth and shape the face at the same time. If you're worried it isn't strong enough, put a couple of drops of runny super glue on the bondo, after it's been finish shaped, to reinforce it.