Recently, my son has been obsessed with the Disney movie Moana. One of the primary characters is the demigod Maui who wields a magical hook. The hook has a very distinct look and is adorned with special carvings.
Using a single 2×4, I made a kid-sized version of the hook. I started by making a template by free-handing the shape and cutting it out at the bandsaw. You can simply DOWNLOAD MY TEMPLATE if you like the shape I came up with. Print the template with no scaling and then cut and tape the pages together. Use some spray adhesive to attach the paper to some 1/4″ plywood or MDF and then proceed with the cutting.
Cut down the 2×4 into pieces that cover the hook shape as shown in the video and then glue the pieces together into a panel. Cut out the shape, fare the curves, and then use a rasp or power carving tools to give the hook its final shape. The etchings were drawn on with a pencil and then burned in using a Razertip Wood Burning Tool. I referenced images from the movie for the etches but I wasn’t going for perfection and ad-libbed quite a bit.
Keep in mind that you don’t need to use everything I used in the video. A jigsaw can be used instead of the bandsaw. All of the sculpting can be done using nothing more than a rasp and hand planes. And if you’re intimidated by the sculpting, you can always cut the shape out of 3/4″ plywood, round over all of the edges, and give that to the kid and let them use their imagination. Here are some helpful links to the specific tools I used for the build:
