Oh, yeah, Sidewinder, I know BL very well. It's one of the best woods I have available. I was saying it was exactly that, the stave. Sapwood has held beautifully for me (on BL) as a single ring on the back. But, when put in compression, it acted like BL for the stiffness, but seemed to have no compression strength OR elasticity.
Sleek, that would be areally big discovery, if it works out you are right. Cool.