Abstract: The present application thus provides a method for reducing stress on at least one of a turbine disk and a turbine blade. The method may include the steps of (a) determining a starting line for a dovetail backcut relative to a datum line, (b) determining a cut angle for the dovetail backcut, and (c) removing material from at least one of the blade dovetail or the disk dovetail slot according to the starting line and the cut angle to form the dovetail backcut. The datum line may be positioned about 2.866 inches (about 72.796 millimeters) from a forward face of the blade dovetail and wherein step (a) is practiced such that for the pressure side of the dovetail, the starting line of the dovetail backcut is at least about 2.566 inches (about 65.176 millimeters) in a forward direction from the datum line.