Repinning a brass bolster

[pmike5869]

Any one care to advise me on the type of metal used to repin a knife which has brass bolsters? I wouldn't want to use nickle silver as the contrast would be horrific but using brass seems to be inadvisable since it is so soft. What to do???? Also, I plan to gold plate the bolsters to avoid the dull patina which always returns after finishing. Coating with paste wax or shellac or?? doesn't seem to be agreeable to my tastes either. Any other options??
thx
mike

[pmike5869]

I realize gold plating the bolsters eliminates the challenge of contrast with the nickle silver pins but want a method to allow me to go either way, plate or not.

[Darksev]

Alot of the older knives I've seen, brass or not, used steel pins in the bolsters. I've taken to doing the same thing on the few I've done.