Keep after beautiful French scale maker (8)
I believe the answer is:
beaufort
'scale maker' is the definition.
'beaufort' can be an answer for 'scale' (I've seen this before). I'm not certain of the 'maker' bit.
'keep after beautiful french' is the wordplay.
'keep' becomes 'fort' (I've seen this in other clues).
'after' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'beautiful french' becomes 'beau' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'fort' put after 'beau' is 'BEAUFORT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for beaufort that I've seen before include "Scale for wind speeds" , "Scale for measuring wind-force" , "one having measure of blows" , "International scale of wind velocities" , "Scale for measuring wind velocity" .)