Hi David,
Neat club. One technique I ran across, but haven't tried yet, is using an iron bar to systematically harden the surface of a quarterstaff. Perhaps you can do something similar with the club head and the anvil...
As for a spike on the butt end, as we know, it's pretty common on knives and some swords, and there are wooden stabbing knives (single and double ended). I suspect that the problem with putting a spike on the end of a long club is that the centrifugal force of swinging the handle will tend to pull your hand down over the spike and off the end. Ideally, you'd want the shaft to flare before narrowing down to a spike, so that you could grip the club and swing full force, without your hands slipping.
That said, there is something to be said for having a fighting point on the back end, because it would be good for close-quarter fighting.
As for short clubs, the Mojave tribe had short clubs with spikes on the handle, so I'm not surprised that the Sudanese were doing something similar.
Fun stuff!
F
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