Bruce.....Master of the Forge is a great place to start. I would like to see someone of your skill level make a copy of the one of the original "fat" ST24 prototypes. That ST23 is a particularly nice one. There is a sleeker damascus one in the book that is amzaing looking. This may be sacrilege, but I don't like the really big ST23's as much, which includes the '06 Board knife. It was a beautiful piece, but to me not a "pure" 23. 8-9 inches is the ideal blade length for that model in my opinion. I actually liked the '05 bowie Board knife better, but is is arguably not as important a piece in the grand scheme of things. I bought two of the cheapo Pakistani copies....one plain and one "damascus, whihc was actually sonme klind of enamelled pattern on the blade...... just for reference as to handle shape. They are true POS's and are way to large, but the work ok as patterns. For a newbie like me, the angled plunge grind of the 23 can be problematic on the grinder. Personally, i would try to reproduce the smaller brass outfitted one that is pictured here in this thread. That is the classic ST23 at around 8-6 1/2 inches. Remember that the spine on all of Bill's big knives are pretty darn thick. He claimed to use 1/4 inch stock but i would have to start with at least 5/16th if not 3/8ths.
edit......I have an interesting suggestion for you, Bruce. The Moran Award knife for this year's Blade Show is a spear point bowie. Why don't you forge up a real fancy Rio Grande camp knife with the wire inlay and carving, and submit it for the judging. That, in my opinion, would be a very appropriate tribute, although you may not be the only guy doing that.
How do you do a full convex grind?