Caduceus Paluceus

Hi Guys!

         As I had previously mentioned I had this thing with my ear clogging up which caused a severe case of vertigo, then the clogging came and went for about a month and a half. The Dr. who helped us out has helped my wife’s Aunt and Uncle on occasion and often doesn’t accept any payment even though she came to the house. Yes, I said came to the house, common here still. I decided that I would do something for everything that she has done for everyone.

           I started out to make a Caduceus. Simple enough, wings on a stick with two snakes, in the US Navy that is what we used. Well lo and behold, it is wrong to the rest of the world. The symbol for medicine for about 90% of practicing Medical Professionals in the world is the Rod of Asclepius. I guess I should have paid closer attention to Greek mythology, never gave it a second thought.

         Regardless, I was going to make something a little different anyway so I came up with a concept that included both. I think I like the idea contrary to the Greeks that the wings on the staff are a symbol of an Angel come to aid, the staff the necessary means by which to destroy the illness (the snake) befallen one. So I made a small wall hanging depicting the likeness of a scene on hillside using a non-traditional staff (I added wings) and singular snake of the Rod of Asclepius, add a few flowers to depict medicinal herbs and a rock for a snake to crawl out under from. There the scene is set. Below are a few pictures taken while making and the finished product.

Staff, wings and hanging ring

The wings are made from about a 6″ long x 5 mm thick x 2cm wide, the rod is 8″ long and 12mm in diameter. It is a piece of old rebar – I put a chisel line to break it up a little more and then twisted. I left the slight bends from twisting it in on purpose! Not everything I do is an accident.

Wings, ring and staff assembled

The Rod is split to receive the wings. I can get it nice and tight around the wings. I know because I forgot about the hanger at first, :). With the hanger in I had to resort to a very small tack weld to keep them from having a little wiggle. The shame of it all!!!

The other parts of my Rod of Asclepius

The bottom of the rod was split and the received the snake, the portion of the snake in the split is square and holds very tightly. It will be post welded to the base plate of the flowers and rock so while it was nice to see I could get it nice and tight it will be welded over in the end.

Rod of Asclepius or is it a Caduceus? 🙂

The flowers and rod have a hold in the base plate which they were all welded in place. Had I used a thicker base I would have used tenons, but it is heavy enough already. The yellow of the flowers shows up more in the picture than it does in person. I thought it gives it that B&W photo look with a splash of color and I still do. I could have used red, but I choose the yellow for a more muted effect. Let me know if that is the effect you felt from it. The Rock is epoxied on. There is an added benefit to using the rebar as it looks like stitches once cut and twisted it alluding even more to the Medical Profession.

This was a fun project and of course I forgot to use my touchmark before I was done, I made a vain attempt to stamp it, but only the VA of VAN came out. I just couldn’t bring myself to give it a full force blow. I will remember to use my stamp one of these days. hahaha. I have a picture that will last as long as I do! hahaha.

Oh if you want more info on  Caduceus vs. Rod of Asclepius see Wikipedia for the full story. 

See ya at the Forge!!!

Vince