bread board...stain first or mineral oil?

[Mark Rios]

ok...i have another bread board, that slides in the cabinet, ready to finish. I need to stain the front piece though, the part that you pull out on. Do I stain the front oak part first, mask it off and then put the mineral oil on the rest/....or the other way around, mask off the front piece, apply mineral oil and then stain the front piece?
Thanks for your help.

[Tom Hintz]

I would stain it first, and then apply the mineral oil.
The oil will migrate in to the other piece somewhat regardless of how you mask it off and prevent getting an even stain.
Another thought is that the mineral oil itself will darken the wood somewhat. You might want to try applying mineral oil to a scrap of the piece to be stained to see how dramatic that change in color is. You might be able to skip the stain entirely if the coloring is pleasing to you.

[Hal Flynt]

I would make sure that the stain was not toxic as it most likely will bleed into the mineral oil.

A dye stain with vegetable color may be safer.