Check this out yall

[mikekeswick]

Where was it said it was 'sticking out'? For something like this to have been hidden all this time wouldn't that suggest to you it wasn't 'sticking out'?
Why on earth would they not have used linen to bind the feathers on. Silk would not always have been available 100% of the time...maybe the fletcher had just run out, maybe he didn't like silk...who knows but just because it's not silk means nothing.There are many ancient arrows with fletching intact that have been found all around the world.

[mikekeswick]

Oh and surely it's obvious why this video has been made? Advertising, advertising, advertising 

[OTDEAN]

My money is on this being authentic.  Not everyone would have used silk like Mike said, to think otherwise is just dogma.  Just like people used to insist that you had to leave a log out in the sun for years before it was dry enough to make a bow, again dogma.

[PatM]

At no point do they say the arrow was found in the thatch, that was just an assumption
 It may have just been lying on the loft floor after having gone through the original thatch. An arrow lying in a dark loft amongst other debris isn't going to stand out too much.
 Could have been buried under a few hundred years worth of chaff from hay or straw.

[meanewood]

Has anyone got an update on the testing of the arrow found?

[WillS]

They still can't decide whether or not to get it tested....

[Badger]

  I would go for authentic. It is almost certainly over 100 years old if stored in a protected place and I doubt 100 years ago they would have made an arrow like this. I have no problem believing it may be 600 years old.

[meanewood]

It's interesting how short the shaftment length is between the fletch and the nock.
I've made a replica and can just get my fingers in without using a tab!
Mind you, I suppose those tough bastards didn't use tabs so there you go.

[WillS]

They used gloves actually.  There's artwork showing them.

[mikekeswick]

Every archer used a glove......

[WillS]

Some.  Like I said, there is artwork showing some archers using a glove.  But no tabs. 

A glove would make this arrow even less practical.  I can understand fully the concern in damaging the object by having it dated, as it will require removing some of the shaft, but you'd think with something so rare they'd be jumping at the chance to know?

[Pat B]

Did they mention what the shaft is? Was it split timber or shoot shafting?  Wouldn't carbon dating give a basic age to the shaft, fletch, leather and binding?

[Yeomanbowman]

close inspection of the shaft shows it is very smooth with no apparent pins, knots or tooling marks.  It looks to be made from cleeved stock.

[WillS]

Jeremy, have there been any thoughts on the wood species?  It doesn't appear to be heavily grained like ash, so is it likely to be something along the lines of aspen or birch?

[Yeomanbowman]

Yes, aspen is what Richard and Hector think and I can't say I disagree.  It must the dense aspen as it's quite heavy(ish) given that Weapons of Warre states that many of the arrows may have been in the mid 40g range, from memory.  Could be birch, though, as you say.