You are better off making beads than coves, and better still jsut using plain edged strips, but if you hvae to cut the coves do it as safely as possible.

I'd make a guide that would slide along the strips and would position my cutting or sanding tool along the strip's edge. since I am natually lazy and prefer to do things as simply as possible, I'd get a block of 2x4, about 6 inche long, and run it through my table saw, cutting a 1/4 inch wide slot about 1 inch deep in one of the narrow sides of the block. The rest of the block would give me something ot hold on to.

If I was using sandpaper, I'd put two drops of hotmelt glue and then a 1/4 inch dowel into the slot. I would then cut thin strips of sandpaper, long enough to extend out of both ends of the slot, so I could hold them to the block with thumbtacks. The strips would be a bit wider than 1/4 inch so they would wrap around the circumference of the dowel.

If I had a gouge I'd drill a hole through the block, from top to the groove on the bottom, and drop the gouge through this hole. The angle of the hole would have to be whatever angle I wanted the gouge to cut the wood. A second hole, perhaps going at a 90 degree angle to the edge of the block might be necessary to allow chips to exit. In effect I would be making a quick and dirty plane. If needed, a wedge or woodscrew could hold the gouge at a given depth.

With power tools: make two slides from 2x4 blocks and connect then with scraps of 1x2 so the blocks are as far apart as the base of a router or dremel tool. You can rest the router on these 1x2 wood strips -- and even lock them in position with some carefully positioned bolts or screws. Sliding this along your strip you will have a leading block, the tool, and the following block.

With a real lightweight tool that is making small cuts, like the dremel, you might get away with just mounting it to the 2x4 guide.

another possibilityfor a guide is to munt your router or dremel tool to a wood base that you can put two "alignment pins" into. ( these "pins" can be nails, dowel rods, screws, bolts, or whatever) The "pins" should be in line with the center of the cutting bit, and the same distance from it, but on opposite sides. Looking at these in line you would see:alignment pin, cutting bit, alignment pin. Set your tool on the edge of the strip and rotate the base so that one pin is on hte left side of the strip, and the other pin. Holding the pins firmly against the strip forces the cutting tool to ride down the center of the strip, no matter what the thickness of the strip, so this would work with thinner strips too.

Hope this helps

PGJ