I've never had standard fail on steady hands either and I've crafted all crafts to 25, and a few of them to 30. Alchemist is the only one to 40 so I don't have SHII yet.
Maybe your fails happened when steady hands runs out. I've been known to keep going after it ran out because I was distracted or just didn't notice it go away. I'm sure all of us crafters probably do that more than a few times each day.