The following table lists general suitability guidelines for charcoals coming from different types of raw wood. It must be noted that much depends on the specific subspecies used, the manufacturing process, the derivation of the wood and other factors like the season of cut. Charcoals "make or break" gunpowder; those listed as "suitable" can be used for BP manufacture and can give adequate results. However, scientific tests show that speed increases up to 500% are possible when using high performance charcoal. Thus, who wants optimum performance is referred to the latter.

It is plain that the final performance of any powder is also largely determined by the production method used. Thus it is not uncommon if e.g. a precipitated Hazel black powder clearly outstrips a hand ground powder using alder buck-thorn charcoal even if the latter contains the better material.

There are still many blanks remaining. Feel free to complete or expand the table wherever authentic information is accessible.