Lessons I learned while welding today.
Hole in boot happens all the time , my worst was welding exhaust under my car and had a hole in my glove,i was covered in sweat and i almost dropped the rod on my face so i grabbed it with my other hand (the one with the hole) it grounded on my hand and lit me up.I was stuck under the car being shocked with no one around to help when i finally got loose i had 3rd degree burns on the web of my left thumb (it only took a month to heal over because every time i moved my hand it would reopen.I definately feel for you.
That reminds me, another time, I lived in a house that had a carport, the concrete was so slick, and any humidity (duh, Florida) would cause the concrete to get a bead of moisture on it. Busted my *** twice, just trying to carry groceries in. Then one day, I was laying under the '46 Ford F1. Damp concrete; didn't think about it, hooked up the ground, and slid the whip under it. Put on the helmet ( darn, I love these new auto-darken helmets), slid under the truck, and started groping around for the whip(no gloves). Grabbed the electrode, and "holy cow, Batman". If it hadn't been for the helmet, I would have destroyed my face, beating it on the transmission, before I finally forced my hand to let go off the stick.
Ten years later, I sprang for an Italian made mig. After the day I unplugged that pos, and threw it out the shop door, onto the concrete apron (that was fun, it broke into pieces. Let it sit there for a week, then put the pieces back together, and it worked better, lol.) Then I bought a Hobart gas mig. And will never go back to stick, unless welding rusty metal, over 3/8" thick; that old Sears stick welder is still sitting in the corner, un-used for 10 years.
