Greg - I saw those expensive prices for those metal arbors and guess what? I bet they wouldn't last but a few years before they would rust and break. The cattle panels are galvanized steel and will last longer than the wood posts!!!
I actually wrote an article about making cattle panel arbors:
http://garden.org/ideas/view/b...
Hopefully, this article will answer your questions, but if you have more questions, feel free to post here to ask. Good luck making one (or more). I love mine and actually have plans to build a couple more in my yard.
