The characteristics of cobalt films of initial purity 99.91% and 99.999% prepared by vacuum evaporation on various substrates were studied. Variables were substrate type (KCl, NaCl, and natural graphite), substrate temperature, vacuum during evaporation, and vacuum cleavage vs cleavage in air. Epitaxial fcc cobalt films could be obtained on KCl and NaCl, and ``semiepitaxial'' hcp cobalt films could be obtained on graphite. The change in texture of the films upon annealing and their subsequent transformation behavior is discussed.