I am finally going to try an alternate tuning...

....and I know nothing about it.

As a acoustic guitar player I never played anything but standard.

As a dobro player I have never played anything but standard.

As an electric guitar player I have played nothing but standard.

But playing banjo now I find myself intrigued regarding alternates. I guess its because of the "clawhammer factor", or maybe just the "coolness" of old tymey banjo in general.

Anyway...here is my 1st question

When I tune a string to an alternate tuning, do I tune the string UP, or DOWN? (I told ya I knew nothing!)

 And 2ndly, what is really good "old timey" sounding tuning to start with?

Thanks!