I don't know a whole lot about blades, but I do know a bit about woodworking. One point of laminating is that you can minimize the effects of quirks and weaknesses in the individual pieces of wood. Say for example that there is a bit of tension in a piece that would lead to warping, or there is a place where the grain runs out and creates a weak point. If you laminate several pieces, these flaws are liable to be canceled by what is going on with the adjacent pieces. So for this purpose, the more sections the better. Ripping wood to thinner slices will do more of this than fewer pieces of more slices. That is assuming that your glue joints are good (as they should be).
Another reason for laminating is that it is easier to get thinner stock which is truly quartersawn, and quartersawn wood is most stable dimensionally. If that is the purpose, it depends on the particular stock you are working with to determine how many laminations you need.
Two good sources of wood info are the USDA Forest Products Laboratory, Manual of Wood Technology (or some similar title) and Hoadley's Understanding wood. One of the things you will learn is that wood names are often commercial names, so that several species will get one name for marketing purposes. Cedar, even commercially is marketed with different subtypes, such as white and red, and Eastern and Western. You might want to investigate further. I believe that Eastern White Cedar is a favorite with bulders of boats and strip built canoes.
Hope this helps some!
Mark