I found a nice heavy duty 25 foot tow chain today. sitting right in the middle of the street and people where driving over it. i stopped of course to grab it.
The problem with the softness of the blade was the carbon content. blades that like are not designed to be hardened. The company use cheap mild steel that does not have a high enough carbon content to harden properly. You are off to a good start i would say but you need to use a better material...