A method has been developed to prepare single crystal electrodes of reactive metals by resistive heating. Instead of using a flame, the crystals are annealed in a controlled atmosphere by passing a high electric current through them. This method was tested with Au(111) and Pt(111) electrodes, for which the well-known cyclic voltammograms characteristic of a well-ordered surface were obtained. As a second step, the preparation of Pd(hkl) electrodes was addressed. The cyclic voltammograms for Cu upd on Pd(111), Pd(100) and Pd(110) electrodes, prepared by this method, are shown and compared with literature data.