Abstract: Cast bodies of steel grades which do not undergo phase transformation upon heating for hot working, for example, the austenitic stainless steels, are conditioned to undergo recrystallization upon subsequent heating by cold working the body as the first step in making it into an intermediate product, such as a slab, plate, band or billet. Upon subsequent heating, the steel recrystallizes to a finer grain structure with substantially altered grain boundaries. Such recrystallization substantially reduces the incidence of surface defects and edge cracking during subsequent hot working.