The importance of continuously recording strain (or displacement) recovery during stress relief when conducting in situ stress measurements has been recognized by many authors as a means of assessing the quality of a measurement. This paper describes an important new use for these strain recovery curves, as four components of the stress tensor can now be obtained from one modified doorstopper stress measurement using a parameter called the recovered to peak strain invariant ratio (RPR). Validation of the model is achieved by laboratory stress measurement simulations. Finally, comments on preliminary results of this method applied to the borehole deformation gauge stress measurement technique are made.