My bench

Caricature carving requires little work space. This small bench I built for portability and fits any tabletop.  The design idea was partly sourced from a book by Marvin Kaisersatt entitled "Creating Caricature Heads in Wood and on Paper" with the addition of a carving post that I developed.
The author is a member of The Caricature Carvers of America www.cca-carvers.org and his book is a must have for anyone contemplating making caricatures.

 The bench is 38 cms wide with the front face hooked over any table edge.  Front middle is a carving ledge probably Czech in origin, used as a support for the work being carved.
On the left is a bench top carving arm that can be used to hold a caricature head with a small carvers screw.
Behind the carving ledge is a carving post that can be rotated to provide various support faces to lean the carving against whilst cutting away from the holding hand. All faces of the post and ledge are covered in cork sheet to maximize grip on the carving.

Here the carving post is removed to show the spigot and parking hole. Note the broad base of the carving post that provides sufficient friction against the bench top to prevent unwanted rotation of the post when under pressure.

Other holes are parking slots for tools not in use.

On the extreme right is a leather strip charged with sharpening compound for honing the carving knives.