Stainless steel is the obvious choice for a workshop object. It is harder, cheaper to finish, and it will look on the day you sell it exactly as it looks a decade later. That last quality is precisely why we do not use it.
Brass is a copper-zinc alloy that oxidises. Left unlacquered, a brass knob pulled a hundred times a week will darken where the hand falls and stay bright where it does not. Within a year the object carries a record of its own use. That is not damage. It is the whole argument.
What patina actually is
The dark film that forms on brass is copper oxide, and it is protective — it slows further corrosion rather than accelerating it. A brass fitting left alone outlasts a lacquered one, because lacquer eventually chips and lets moisture sit underneath in a way bare metal never does.
This is why every brass piece we make ships unlacquered. If you want it bright, a cloth and a little polish will take it back in under a minute. If you want it dark, do nothing at all. Both are correct.
Where we do use steel
Cutting edges, points, and anything that must hold a tolerance under load. The Scribe Awl has a hardened steel point set into a brass ferrule for exactly this reason — brass will not hold a point, and steel will not develop a patina worth having. Using both is not a compromise. It is the material doing the job it is good at.