I've been wanting to try my hand at building rustic furniture out of logs for some time now. I don't have much money to spend on buying the metal tenon cutters available on the internet so I decided to build a simple round tenon jig for use on my table saw.

I'll show you how I built mine.

Step 1: Laying Out the Parts

I searched Google for simple ways of making round tenons. Found a few links but the best information came from a fellow on youtube. Izzy Swan. he has tons of great woodworking ideas and other useful videos.

Here is the link to the round tenon jig I used to build my jig from.
Easy! Round Tenons With Table Saw And Router: https://youtu.be/BuM_dOXw-f4

Step 2: Cut Some Holes

I'm just using scrap wood I have laying around my shop. This is simply press wood I believe used to be from a computer desk. I love to recycle!

Cut a hole in each piece of wood slightly larger then your log. I used my scroll saw but a jigsaw would work fine too.

Step 3: Assembly

Next I decided where I wanted both boards mounted, in this case I have them close to the saw blade to give support to the log while cutting. Leave about 8" or so between the two boards to provide more support and help keep your log straight while cutting.

I had to add two small blocks to my design because the area around my table saw is lower then my table saws deck by about two inches. You can see the blocks in the picture.

Step 4: Trying It Out

I secured my jig to my work table with a few screws then slid the log into the jig. Adjust the height of the blade, I started at a low height then as I progressed I raised it more checking the diameter of the tenon after each cut. Once I reached my desired size I turned off the table saw and removed the log. My jig worked fairly well! A little sandpaper and it will be good to use.

While cutting the tenon. I turned the log slowly with my hand while feeding the log into the blade. Everything worked smoothly.

Step 5: Drilling the Hole

I had purchased a 1 1/2" spade drill bit so I could cut a round hole for the tenon to fit into. It works alright, but a forstner bit would be a better choice.

The two pieces fit together well, but I believe I took a little too much off the round tenon which made my joint somewhat sloppy.
Some tweaking and this jig will serve me well.

Thanks for reading my instructable and comment below if you have any questions.