Probably more for inspiration than for tips: Opticks by Isaac Newton. He does go into detail as to how he ground his lenses, but that advice may be a bit outdated.

Gordon Waite's cheap DIY spherometer tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htBx5SRFeMI&feature=related

Best classical reference (yet somewhat more modern than Newton) is:

How to make a telescope by Jean Texereau

http://archive.org/details/HowToMakeATelescope