The contour method has been increasingly recognised as a powerful technique for measuring residual stresses. However, the conventional contour method is limited to performing flat cuts, which imposes important restrictions to the applicability of the technique, for example to complex structures. A new complex contour method has been developed at The Open University with the potential to provide a radical step change in the application of the technique to complex structures. The proposed 2-day experiment is designed to verify the accuracy of the novel contour method approach using non-planar cuts.