About: Magnetic force

Hi, I am trying to play around with magnets on my free time, I ordered some neodyum magnets and I've been thinking of making my own electromagnets, I had some of questions and I was hoping someone here mmight help me:



1. About magnetic force:
AFAIK magnetic force is perpendicula to the surface it is emitted from right? but my question is, if I cut an angle in a magnetic rod (say at 45 deg), will I be able to exert a force at 45 degrees?


How does magnetic polarization work with unevenly shaped magnets:

if I cut a magnetic rod and make it pointy on one side (but not the other), it would loose its symmetry, where would the "mid-point" be? (where the polarity changes) or will it loose its magnetism just for being uneven?
I would assume it would be in the center of mass (thats just my assumption, but I would like to get this confirmed)

Here's the project I have in mind (its a really simple sketch but I hope it gets the idea across):





======== not so important question ============

2. Where can I get some "custom sized" soft-iron rods?, TBH I've searched the internet and they only come in like super small sizes
2.a. are they only sold in small sizes because bigger sizes are not "magnetically efficient" ?