Good Clean Fun

Good Clean Fun is Nick Offerman's tour of his own workshop in Los Angeles, Offerman Woodshop, where a crew of woodworkers turns out handmade furniture alongside a stranger lineup of kazoos, baseball bats, ukuleles, mustache combs and cedar-strip canoes. Offerman is best known as an actor and comedian, and he is also a writer and co-host of NBC's Making It. Here he presents the shop as a stubborn patch of honest, sweaty American craft set down in the middle of Hollywood.

The book works as both a how-to and a behind-the-scenes visit. The woodworkers themselves walk you through a selection of their most popular projects in friendly, step-by-step instructions, with plans pitched at every skill level, from first-timers to people who have spent years at the bench. Full-color photographs show off the finished work, which Offerman cheerfully calls "wood porn."

Between the projects, Offerman's own writing fills the pages: humorous essays, tributes to the woodworkers who inspired him, thoughts on what woodworking means in modern America, and recipes for both food and good cheer. His voice is part country philosopher and part worldly wise guy, and it carries the whole book along.

You do not need a shop of your own to enjoy it. Seasoned makers will find ideas to try, newcomers will find a way in, and fans of Offerman's humor will get plenty of his tomfoolery along with the sawdust.