Not exactly for metal. Christmas is coming along and its time to grind
pounds and pounds of poppy seeds. (Iggy probably knows what this is about).

Use to take about 3 hours by hand and using the lathe certainly justified
its purchase to my lovely wife.

I remove the handle of the hand grinder and chuck the whole assembly (chuck
the end of the shaft) in the lather. The grinder is big enough that it
hangs down vertically between the ways which keeps it from rotating. I
place a large steel bowl on the ways, dial in for about 200 rpm and pour the
seeds into the small hopper. About a 10-15 minute task which finishes with
me saying "Aren't you glad we have a lathe"?

Other uses:
I purchase one of those manual counters ($4± harbor freight) and taped it to
my ways to be tripped by the chuck as it spins around. Great for rewinding
coils as they go bad in my pinball machines. Fortunately most of the coils
have the number of turns printed thereon so it becomes a no brainer
operation.

Put 2 or three copper wires in the chuck and use the lathe to twist
ornamental wire. After the braid (twist) they can be bent by hand to make
holders for decorative plates or nick-knacks. The same twisted (or hand
braided) copper wires can be hammered flat and is a good project for 5-10
year olds to make bracelets or rings.