The preparation of metal bead crystals with two wires attached to the crystal is described. These crystals allow for a very easy and efficient method to heat metal single crystals by direct current heating through the connecting wires of the bead crystal. This heating of the bead crystal is sufficient to clean metal surfaces such as the surfaces of Pt and Au as confirmed by Auger spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). There is no need for any ion sputtering which is conventionally used to clean metal single crystal surfaces. The bead crystals with two leads fabricated from a wide range metals and metal alloys such as Cu, Mo, Ru, Rh, Pd, Ag, Ta, W, Re, Ir, Pt, Au, PtPd, PtRh, AuAg, and PtIr can be used as general purpose metal substrates for surface science studies and other applications. Additionally, these bead crystals can be used to reshape STM tips by indentation of the tip into the soft metal in order to recover atomic resolution imaging on hard substrates.