If you have to split it by hand, I found that quartering anything over 16" or so rounds helps. With its grain it splits out a lot. I read a lot above about "flick" this and "wrist flick" that, but my experience was this just shattered it. The middle split in this photo (note: not my image) looks a little like what I had, although my grain was much more "broken" than split, with lots of horizontal splinters sticking out:
http://l.b5z.net/i/u/6049036/i/Types_of_Wood.jpg
I don't know where the thing about being difficult to split on hydro came from. I just have a lowly Huskee 22T and it goes through it with no trouble. This and elm are the two woods I prefer to split on hydro.
Keep it away from moisture. This thing is basically a really big weed, and it rots fast. But I found it also dries fast, too (also like a grass or weed?) I ran out of wood last winter with that darned "polar vortex". I tried a few splits of some ash logs I had been saving for an emergency and wasn't happy with it - I know some people post about being able to cut and burn ash the same day, but that wasn't my experience. Anyway, I also had some sycamore rounds that I had cut just before winter and hadn't had time to split. They were as wet as the day the tree fell when I cut them, but despite that, through one of the coldest winters we've had in a while, they still got dry enough to burn really well. The only one I measured was 26%MC, which is more than I'd want... but as I said, it was an emergency.
I'll burn free wood any day, any time, anywhere. You drop it off, I say "thank you". I don't care if it has nails and dog chains in it, I don't turn away a freebie just because it's not the kind I like. I'm an equal-opportunity wood burner.