Severe plastic deformation was used to obtain technically pure iron in nano-crystalline form. Two methods were employed to produce a total cumulated deformation of ε = 12: (a) high pressure torsion (HPT) and (b) equal channel angular pressing (ECAP). Microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated of as deformed material. The grain size after deformation was found to be about 100 nm. This is 3 orders of magnitude less than that of the initial. Significant increase in tensile strength, yield stress, micro- and nano-hardness was also observed. However, materials obtained by HPT and ECA exhibit significantly different mechanical properties. This can be explained in terms of the relative number of high-angle grain boundaries produced by different deformation routes.