It does take up some real estate. With a 10' stroke, you need +-22' of space. Reason for small saw is processing 4x8 sheets, I process 30-100 sheets of A1 veneer, mdf, and melamine per month. What a pleasure, plus much more efficient to do rips and crosscuts per sheet in one process.
It's also great with solid stock. Has a straight line shoe, so I can straight line rip rough lumber up to 10'. Almost don't use jointer to process rough lumber. At 2800 pounds, to say it's solid as a rock is an understatement. Stiles Machinery tech set up spot on accurate. After my 60" stroke I'm in heaven. Large investment in this economy though.
No problem cutting pen blanks, Fred, just keep your fingers out of the way!
Thanks for comments.
Robb