On Sat, 17 Jul 2010 04:56:15 +0100, John Rumm
wrote:

Yup they are to produce the ignition spark. Yes they are rechargeable,
but even rechragables only have a limited life before they no longer
hold enough charge and need replacing.

Thanks everyone for your replies and help.

Well normally I have the compressor in the garage (which is adjacent to
my workshop). Typical jobs in the garage are tyre inflation (car, bike,
mower, anything else!), and driving an impact wrench occasionally. In
the workshop, the most common uses are with a blow gun for dusting,
cleaning etc (and inflating inflatable things!), and running a small 18
gauge brad nailer, which I use for a variety of furniture making and
restoring projects. For example fixing T&G backs to things like:

I'm not sure I could justify buying a framing nailer for one wall but
I think air nailers sound very useful and I could have an air impact
wrench to remove the car wheels like they do at the garage!

Some posts mentioned making your own shed using an air nailer; I'd
like to try that one day. I see you mentioned a smaller, brad, nailer.
I would quite like to try and make some furniture one day. Once I've
got the house sorted, perhaps I'll find time. The bookcase looks
beautiful. Do you recommend any books, web sites, magazines to learn
more about furniture making?

Thanks again,