Red Oak nearly splits just looking at it.We don't have much Sugar Maple,so I've never split that. I've rarely used an axe for splitting. For most of our wood a maul is necessary.
I used an 8lb maul before a friend turned me on to the X27.
Keep in mind our oak has half the growing season of yours. Hence the growth rings are tighter and the density is higher. If frozen and straight grained it's not too bad to split. If twisted like much of it is and it's green and not frozen it can suck to split. Maple sucks to split regardless.
