Falling or felling is a term for cutting down trees. Like most falling axes this one is double-bit, meaning it has a blade on either end. What makes the Puget Sound axe different is that the bit is longer and narrower, typically about 12 to 14 inches from end to end. It also has a longer handle. This one is about 40 inches (others can be as long as 48) whereas 36 was more common for other axe styles. The exact origin of the Puget Sound axe design is unknown, but there are a few theories about why this design was better suited to the trees of the Pacific Northwest. The length of the handle likely gave loggers more reach across a wide tree trunk. The longer and narrower blade could have been used to cut notches for springboards, which were placed around trees as scaffolding for loggers to get above the roots and cut the tree with a two-man saw. By the 20th century the “Puget Sound Falling Axe” was an axe style sold and marketed by tool companies across the United States. This one was made by Kelly Axe & Toolworks, in Charleston, West Virginia.