ississauga said:

I came across this large tool at a store, the salespeople could only
speculate on what it does

It looks like these,
http://images.google.com/images?sour...&q=wood+shaper

If you often use one what have you made with it? Maybe I will return
to the store and educate them with your knowledge.

It's a Shaper - kind of like a big heavy duty router table.
It handles bits and stock that would be unmanageable on a small router
table. It has the HP to run large bits at slower speeds. Makes
deeper/heavier cuts than a router.

FWIW,

Greg G.