RE: Some kind of wood
I almost guarantee it's basswood. That's almost exclusively what the reasonably inexpensive wood blinds are made from(it's cheap, strong, and easily stained to look like many types of wood), and I just bought a few sets of those when I remodeled my bathroom. The expensive suckers are usually maple or oak. Anyway, I have a bunch of slats left over from resizing the blinds to fit the window and kept them around because, like you, I figured they must be good for something. I just haven't figured out yet what that is[&:].