Sorry if this came up twice.
Just a couple of things that I've noticed dealing with these species quite a bit and splitting much with a maul.
Norway Maple and Ash have a very similar bark, however when the bark is scraped, the ash appears whiter and the Norway appears reddish.
Ash wood(for identification purposes) is like a combination of Hackberry and the Norway Maple, easy to split but a little stringier than the maple. It(ash) also has darker pulpwood than the other two.
My opinion of the easiest of all of these to split....shew...... I would have to say the red oak. I've 'popped' rounds of red oak with an 8lb maul in excess of 30" easy.
Sugar maple smells sweet when it is freshly split.
Hackberry is VERY stringy to split, by hand or with a splitter. It is VERY white when freshly split.
Hickory will lose it's bark sooner than any of these after it is cut/split.
White oak splits pretty easily if it is a straight-grained piece. It smells like dog sh**, mildly but still like sh**
I think this is the first pin oak I have had experience with, and I noticed it has a 'wider' grain than the other oaks, must be a faster grower.
Enjoy