Brass will react with steel, essentially depending on humidity or other sources of moisture and especially in "salt" air near the water. Further steel screws will tend to react with the acids in the wood and rust, if it gets started, can expand and split the wood. I would use stainless steel round head wood screws set in epoxy to protect the wood. That is probably the least reactive choice. Another really good option are the anchor nuts available from "Clickbond" clickbond.com and theflightshop.com These are designed to be glued in place which avoids all these problems and also leaves the wood a little stronger.
Tom |