Too many funnies and not enough smilies! And that is meant as a kind of compliment and nothing else. Very difficult to convey humour on a forum like this, or even say anything that has no chance of misinterpretation. So, my apologies for not spotting a deliberate funny.

As for sense of humour - how about, "I went for a job as a lathe operator once. They turned me down". Well, OK, maybe that one doesn't prove anything...

Going back to the original question - I've never had much success tracing bitmaps with software. Probably a mix of incompetence and inexperience, as it's not something I need to do very often, but as long as the shape isn't too complicated I've usually managed to import a bitmap and then draw and edit curves over it, possibly even as a series of short straight lines. Might be an alternative approach for a quick-and-dirty solution especially in wood where a quick run round with a bit of sandpaper takes out any lumps and bumps.