Traditional Interior Joiner References

[Bob Smalser]

After some years of searching, I’ve finally come upon all the books I’ve wanted as references for interior yacht joinery. Perhaps y’all have some other recommendations to add.


Wood: A Manual for its Use As a Shipbuilding Material, Department of the Navy Bureau of Ships and the USDA Forest Products Laboratory, 4 Volumes 1957-1962. 418pp.

The complete wood reference work for marine applications, containing engineering data not found anywhere else. Reprinted in hard and soft cover by Teaparty Books in 1983 and occasionally available on Amazon and from other used booksellers. Sixty or so bucks but well worth it…hard to find…get on some bookseller’s want list for it.



Specialized Joinery, S.G. Duckworth, Thomas Corkhill, Originally a 6-volume tradesman’s set from 1929-1935 in the UK, reprinted in Canada by Algrove Publishing and available from Lee Valley Tools. 302pp. $9.50.

Not a “how-to” book, but excellent illustrated detail on basic and advanced traditional joinery in structures with a 50-page section on specialized ship joinery. Oriented toward woodwork applied to larger, steel-hulled vessels, the construction detail remains the same except for minor details of joining the woodwork to the hull or deck.



Modern Practical Joinery, George Ellis, 1902, reprinted by Linden Publishing Company. Available on Amazon from $9.95. 486pp.

Massive detail on every aspect of traditional joinery in furniture and structures, to include basic Victorian-era machines and hand tools, including extensive “how-to” details.

Practical Yacht Joinery, Fred P. Bingham, 1983, International Marine Publishing, Available on Amazon from $9.95. 273pp.

Oriented for beginners, the first half of the book is basic woodworking “how-to” and the second half modern yacht joinery. A more general, simpler, easier to use book than the older references cited, but lacks the detail necessary to complete your yacht….there is absolutely nothing on door construction, for example.