Positron annihilation characteristics and microhardness of 25% cold worked and isochronally annealed hafnium specimens were measured to study recovery and recrystallization stages of hafnium specimens. The annihilation lifetime of positrons in hafnium has been measured for the distinct cases of annihilation in the annealed lattice and annihilation after trapping at lattice defects generated by cold deformation at room temperature. The annihilation lifetime in the annealed lattice was 187 $pm$3.7 psec, whereas it was 217 $pm$ 4.2 psec for positrons trapped at deformation-induced defects (mostly dislocations). The changes in Doppler broadening and hardness showed similar trend in the recrystallization range, however, the measured value of Doppler broadening variation were quite sensitive to changes in the recovery region in which the variation in hardness value was completely insensitive. Recovery of cold worked hafnium initiated at about 623 K and recrystallization occurred at around 1023 K.