My husband likes to laminate the entire runner. We have some very expensive sleds at our place, but my favorate is still one that my husband made many years ago. We use oak for our sleds.
Reason being-it's pretty.
My grandson, his name is David also, already has his dog picked out and is ready to become a famous doggy racer. It's going to be so much fun. Hope we get some snow so that he can learn to ride the sled.