Is Normalizing Necessary?

That would depend on the original condition of the steel, which is an unknown factor until you harden it and break it to check grain size. I would suspect 1084 as received would not necessarily have an ideal grain size. I would advise at least a simple normalizing process to be sure.
 
To work and grind it.... NO.
To harden it, ..... Normalizing is always a good idea before HT. There are things that happen in production that are not optimal for a blade.
 
If the steel is being ground in the annealed condition, then to me it makes seance to normalize in order to change the steels structure into one more appropriate for hardening. Large grain to small grain.
 
My rule of thumb is, always normalize. Even when you get steel that is annealed it could still have stress in it.
 
Heat to 1600 and air cool. All the info you need is on Kevin Kashen's site, it's a good basic reference.
 
I guess I should have asked the op whether he meant before grinding or before hardening. I read it as before grinding.
 
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