LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — David Bolstad is not your average lumberjack sportsman. But then again, lumberjack sports aren't about going out into the woods and chopping firewood for the fireplace.

Springboarding, one of the most grueling of the timber events at the ESPN Great Outdoor Games, requires its own unique set of tools to play the game. The springboard, a five-foot long platform used to stand on by the woodchoppers as they ascend the tree, is one of the tools. The other is an axe.

And the axes used by these pro lumberjack sportsmen are not the same kind used to chop wood for the fireplace at home. When Bolstad, a three-time medalist at the Games, walks up to the nine-foot springboard pole standing before him, he is carrying with him a large toolbox. Inside are the tools of the springboarding trade.

Bolstad carries 10 axes with him made of high carbon tool steel. The axe heads stand out, their shiny finishes reflecting the sunlight as aspen chips fly into the air as choppers whack away at the springboard pole.

"The steel differs from the average axe because it can be made sharper," notes Bolstad. "You can thin the edge down much more than you can the average steel blade."

The act of sharpening is a key part of the overall game plan of pro springboard choppers like Bolstad, a New Zealander with more modern day championships than anyone else in modern times.

And the sharper the blade, the quicker the pro axemen can chop the 12-inch aspen block resting atop the nine-foot springboard pole. At an average running time of 90 seconds, pros like Bolstad can ascend the pole in two springboard notches, and then knock off the aspen block at the top in half the time.