To be honest I find matterials much harder to HQ than the actual gear as the 40 durabillity is much less forgiving with failures.

I rarely use Masters mend, but as I have most all crafts to 50 I have alot of wiggle room with usefull abillities.

I generally go.

Comfort Zone (Always use this first no reason not to)
Inner Quiet
Steadyhand 2
Waste not II (The two previous steps may be interchangeable the extra use of steadyhand may outweigh the extra step of Waste not haven't tested it much as just recently dinged 50 LW)
Hasty hand until SH2 wears.
(Depending on the CP I have on the specific craft)
SH2
Baisc/advanced touch CP providing the main goal is to hit as many sucsessfull crafts as possible that Steady hand relies purely on luck with SH2 even basic touch is 100%
Great Strides
(Use any spare white orbs remaining from Waste not 2 for Carefull synth II)
Byregots (On Red orb or last available white orb)
Use remaining durabillity to complete the craft


Get's me pretty good results I've considered mixing Rapid Synthesis (250% progress) with my Steadyhand II rotation but again it's pure luck and I avoid relying on getting lucky for my synths.