Lol direction.. I thought that urban myth would have died when crafting died...

I failed 3 of 12 arrowwood synths in a row at 99 woodworking skill last year. There's always that 5% fail rate.

I've noticed that fails (and HQs) tend to cluster. (Meaning that a particular result has a higher chance of occuring if it happened just before.) So I always do a small 'distraction' (talk to NPC, move around, etc) if I fail. Not sure if it's actually the case, but like direction, it won't hurt your chances if you believe in it. (Nor will it hurt you if you don't.)