Ideas get.
Ores like iron can be used to Reinforce other ore bricks - a coating of it is placed on the ore brick, making it have more health (so it's harder to break in).
Certain metals can be made into non-baseplate bricks, like doors and walls.
Glassblowing - stone + forge + long tube = glass - goes with above idea (long tube = 4 iron or something?)
Certain metals have special properties that do certain things to a player or brick planted nearby. (Ex: Lead, on contact with player, slowly detracts HP unless they come into contact with... (Water?)/Magnetic bricks touching other metals make them much harder to mine.)
EDIT: When will the server be up?