Altitude bearing width?

I'm planning on cutting the altitude bearings for my 8" string scope tomorrow. I have a lot of 1/2" baltic birch left and was thinking of using that, but I'm concerned that it might be too thin. Does it matter whether I use 1/2" or 3/4" as long as the teflon bearing surface area is the same for both?

1/2" thick would work just fine for a bearing surface--assuming you're making a dob of some kind. Only issue is that by the time you leave a small gap between rocker and bearing box, there's not much bearing surface left. I typically leave 1/4" gap, so that would leave only 1/4" riding on the Teflon. I'd probably laminate two pieces together to get it to 1" thick.