Summary Residual stress dssess ment by means of the hole drilling techniqae is still regarded by many analysts as a phenomenon whose use is restricted to isotropic and homogeneous materials. The work caFried out in this paper tends to address this 'lack of certainty' through introdacing a verilication approach of experimentally assess ed residual stress values, The components investigated were produced under pure bending conditions and anulysed for their residual stress behaviour using a customized strain gaage rosette. This rosette was employed in order to detect the average and peak maximam strain relaxstion os a result of producing a hole by the high speed drilling technique. It is envisaged that the concept of the verffication method could lead to a better understanding with regard to residual stress analysis.