Strain aging measurements on alloys of vanadium with 0.3 at. pct carbon have been carried out over the temperature range 200°C to 500°C. The multiplicity of hardening stages char-acteristic of quench aging in this alloy is not altered by deformation. This behavior is in-terpreted as evidence that carbides nucleate in such profusion through the bulk of the metal that dislocations do not contribute an appreciable fraction of additional nucleation sites (even after 40 pct deformation). Only in the final stages of hardening does deformation in-fluence the kinetics of the process.