Peter,
You can't imagine how happy I am to see this translation of Lhote shared around, since I translated it myself from French to English !
Regarding the takouba.org website, some parts can be accessed through the wayback machine (
https://web.archive.org), and maybe someone could reach to Iain through his main website (
https://iainnorman.com/). It would be interesting to have that website revived, maybe even managed by the forum admins if Iain doesn't feel like maintaining it himself.
Also, here is in my opinion the most important article available regarding the takouba (p. 121 to 168) :
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bp...4815/f143.item .
Regarding the tip of the takouba, I'm convinced it was purposefully made that way to slash with the tip, I don't thing Tuaregs used to stab a lot with the takouba. I'm working on Tuareg fencing and have started to write an article on the subject, I will share it here if/when it is finished.