Deformation of the metastable austenite prior to martensite transformation has been found to increase the hardness of cold worked die steel, compared to non-deformed, conventionally heat-treated specimens. The rate of increase in hardness was slower in the range of 20% reduction but was sharp at 40%, beyond which the increase was very slight with further amount of deformation. Hardness after ausforming and tempering the die steel specimen showed a considerable increase compared to that of the non-ausformed specimen throughout the tempering range investigated.