Primary recrystallised sheets of 3% silicon steel from two different industrial processing routes have been examined after laboratory annealing to initiate secondary recrystallisation. Metallography included etching to reveal individual dislocations and sub-boundaries as well as EBSD in scanning electron microscopy. Residual low angle boundaries are not normally observed inside the secondary grains. The growth of secondaries appears to occur in a jerky manner, associated with local intrusions into the primary matrix that destabilise the interface. The frequency of occurrence of special low energy grain boundaries such as ∑9 and ∑5 is believed to dictate the selectivity of the Goss orientation in both types of steel sheet. © (2012) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.