Adrian, Oh yeah, you brought up a good point. Keep the rod dry! They make special ovens for this but most of the places I worked just used an old refrigerator. Don't plug the refrigerator in but drill a hole in the side of it, stick an electrical cord thru the hole, hook up a light bulb to the end of the cord and plug it in. The heat keeps the rod dry. Wet rod or EVEN rod that has been wet and then dried is hard to weld with and almost IMPOSSIBLE to learn to weld with. Use dry rod..... Also make sure that the lens in your hood is clean {if your having trouble seeing you can use a #9 lens instead of a #10 but only at low amps. Don't turn a big industrial welder up to 225 and do this!}. Also using light duty gloves gives you more control but of course it'll also get you burnt easier so be careful. I think I mentioned something about holding the end of the rod when you first strike your arc? Be careful with thin gloves. Also, put the welding cable over your sholder so that your only holding up a foot or two of cable rather than draging all of it on the floor. They also make stingers that hold the rod tighter to give you more control. These stingers have a round thing that turns on the top of the stinger with a little hole in it where you put the rod. You can tighten the rod in really tight to get more control. Rather than the other type where the rod 'flops' all over the place. When you first strike your arc, hold the end of the rod with your left hand for control and just strike it like you were striking a match. The arc will pull up away from the metal momentarilly {sp?}. Then lower the rod back towards the metal, right into the molden puddle. Move the rod into and out of the puddle. Don't stay out of the puddle long enough for it to harden. Go in very short, slow strokes {6010, 6011}. First do this on flat stock in the flat possition...... Good Luck .... Speaking of Mig welders? Lowes has some really nice ones at a good price. Home Depot used to or at least the ones in my area don't carry them anymore. Mig is easy. Arc is hard. So keep practicing!
Why arc welding isn't allowed in NHRA is something that I've wondered about myself. Can someone who knows why 'chime' in and let us know? In my opinion Arc is stronger than Mig but then it's harder to do..... Hope this helps.... Bill....