I have a film loading Nikon 35mm SLR, and I don't know how to set the self timer to take a picture.

Hi , to set camera in self timer , did you see thew swevil knob on right on front thats the self timer knob , recock the film to load new shoot slide down self timer , aim to the object or tri pod stand then push the shutter you can hear gear running in few sconds the shutter cutain will open for take picture automatically , you must run and hurry to make pose within the few second , thats all good luck.