It is found that efficient conversion from longitudinal acoustic waves to shear waves is possible in YAG by surface conversion at an incline surface, with both the input and output waves traveling along crystal axes. Using this process, existing efficient longitudinal‐wave transducers are applicable to shear‐wave generation. Laser beam probe measurements indicate that the surface conversion loss is of the order of 0.1 dB at 1461 MHz, and that the shear wave column has approximately the expected cross‐sectional shape.