For period correct patterns I recommend:
- "Fur Trade Cutlery Sketchbook" - has scale drawings of knives well dated from the 1500's to the 1800's.
- "American Knives, The First History And Collector's Guide"
Harold L. Peterson
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1958
- "The Knife In Homespun America And Related Items"
Grant, Madison
York, PA. Privately Printed 1984
- "American Primitive Knives 1770-1870"
Minnis, Gordon
- "Swords and Blades of the American Revolution"
Teumann, George
These are just a start: there are many other books on the general time period/subject one chooses (i.e. Rev War, Mtn Man, Civil War) as well with several or maybe just one or two knives included, magazine articles, auction catalogs and websites, museum catalogs and websites all have good examples with time spent searching. I've been studying the subject for nigh onto 50 years now, but don't think of myself as an expert, just another student with perhaps more time in on it and a driving passion for the blades of the past.
A recommendation on steel - based on a couple of dozen metallurgical tests done on period blades I've read over the years as well as steel making info from the "day", the most common steel used is most closely imitated today with one of the 1065-1070-1075-1080 series. The blades tended to be thin and were mostly through hardened not zone hardened and generally much softer than is the norm today. Tested blades go Rockwell C from the mid-40's to the mid-50's. I prefer a bit harder dependent on the usage to around 56-58 RC.