I was excited to split something other than oak so I dug into the beech. Yuck. Had to get the hydraulics out for it. Knotty twisted stuff, even the big trunks. Hope the maple is better!
I rarely have any luck with finding straight grained beech. Maybe 10% of it comes out clean. There was a lot of noodling involved in the last one I processed. I’ve had only slightly better luck with red & sugar maple too, if it’s on the bigger side anyway Oak is the only thing I found that is straight more often than not.
Beech can be tough as you found out. The little branches on the trunk don't help either. Ive had it easy and tough over the years. The stuff I cut over the Summer was on the stringy side. I was thankfully for the hydro. Good luck with the maple!
