It might be helpful to provide better guidance if you suggested what you
intended to do. Your mind's eye and mine likely don't see things the
same
way, so I may not understand your objective.

Harold



My first project will be taking a magnet shaped like a small brick and
creating two small shelves on the brick so it will then be shaped sort of
like a surface plate with the shelf on it or the plate one might create to
mount a QC tool post in the t-slot of a lathe compound.
I would also like to reduce the OD diameter of a magnet shaped like a simple
cylinder.
I don't own a surface grinder or a tool post grinder. I do have a high speed
(35K RPM?) laminate trimmer that I mount on the Aloris post on my lathe for
tapering wood spindles. Even if I put a small grinding wheel on the laminate
trimmer I couldn't slow down its speed easily.
If the material was Al or steel I wouldn't have a problem creating these
most basic of shapes even with my light equipment but as you mentioned, the
magnet seems really brittle.
I haven't tried ANY methods yet. I'm planning ahead.
Thank You,
Eddie