It’s been years since I ran any sort of machine tool so I’ve been spending a little time both knocking the dust off my very-limited abilities and feeling out what my new-to-me lathe can do.
One thing it can do is a 0.050" depth of cut in random steel (at a very slow feedrate, but still) with a less-than-stellar tool (the grinding of which is one of those things I need to work on...). It isn’t exactly happy to do it , but at the same time it doesn’t seem exceedingly strained to do a much more aggressive cut than I’d typically consider which is a good sign. A good cutting oil probably would help.