diff --git a/akka-actor/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/akka/util/HashedWheelTimer.java b/akka-actor/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/akka/util/HashedWheelTimer.java
index 6d31b327c6..5b19e1f2eb 100644
--- a/akka-actor/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/akka/util/HashedWheelTimer.java
+++ b/akka-actor/src/main/java/org/jboss/netty/akka/util/HashedWheelTimer.java
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ import java.util.concurrent.locks.ReentrantReadWriteLock;
 public class HashedWheelTimer implements Timer {
     private final Worker worker = new Worker();
     final Thread workerThread;
-    final AtomicBoolean shutdown = new AtomicBoolean();
+    boolean shutdown = false;
     private final long roundDuration;
     final long tickDuration;
     final Set<HashedWheelTimeout>[] wheel;
@@ -181,12 +181,17 @@ public class HashedWheelTimer implements Timer {
      *                               {@linkplain #stop() stopped} already
      */
     public synchronized void start() {
-        if (shutdown.get()) {
-            throw new IllegalStateException("cannot be started once stopped");
-        }
+        lock.readLock().lock();
+        try {
+            if (shutdown) {
+                throw new IllegalStateException("cannot be started once stopped");
+            }
 
-        if (!workerThread.isAlive()) {
-            workerThread.start();
+            if (!workerThread.isAlive()) {
+                workerThread.start();
+            }
+        } finally {
+            lock.readLock().unlock();
         }
     }
 
@@ -198,8 +203,15 @@ public class HashedWheelTimer implements Timer {
                     TimerTask.class.getSimpleName());
         }
 
-        if (!shutdown.compareAndSet(false, true)) {
-            return Collections.emptySet();
+        lock.writeLock().lock();
+        try {
+            if (shutdown) {
+                return Collections.emptySet();
+            } else {
+                shutdown = true;
+            }
+        } finally {
+            lock.writeLock().unlock();
         }
 
         boolean interrupted = false;
@@ -224,6 +236,10 @@ public class HashedWheelTimer implements Timer {
 
         return Collections.unmodifiableSet(unprocessedTimeouts);
     }
+    
+    public HashedWheelTimeout createTimeout(TimerTask task, long time) {
+        return new HashedWheelTimeout(task, time);
+    }
 
     public Timeout newTimeout(TimerTask task, Duration delay) {
         final long currentTime = System.nanoTime();
@@ -239,7 +255,7 @@ public class HashedWheelTimer implements Timer {
             start();
         }
 
-        HashedWheelTimeout timeout = new HashedWheelTimeout(task, currentTime + delay.toNanos());
+        HashedWheelTimeout timeout = createTimeout(task, currentTime + delay.toNanos());
         scheduleTimeout(timeout, delay.toNanos());
         return timeout;
     }
@@ -260,6 +276,7 @@ public class HashedWheelTimer implements Timer {
         // Add the timeout to the wheel.
         lock.readLock().lock();
         try {
+            if (shutdown) throw new IllegalStateException("cannot enqueue after shutdown");
             int stopIndex = (int) (wheelCursor + relativeIndex & mask);
             timeout.stopIndex = stopIndex;
             timeout.remainingRounds = remainingRounds;
@@ -277,6 +294,15 @@ public class HashedWheelTimer implements Timer {
         Worker() {
             super();
         }
+        
+        private boolean shutdown() {
+            lock.readLock().lock();
+            try {
+                return shutdown;
+            } finally {
+                lock.readLock().unlock();
+            }
+        }
 
         public void run() {
             List<HashedWheelTimeout> expiredTimeouts =
@@ -285,7 +311,7 @@ public class HashedWheelTimer implements Timer {
             startTime = System.nanoTime();
             tick = 1;
 
-            while (!shutdown.get()) {
+            while (!shutdown()) {
                 final long deadline = waitForNextTick();
                 if (deadline > 0) {
                     fetchExpiredTimeouts(expiredTimeouts, deadline);
@@ -372,7 +398,7 @@ public class HashedWheelTimer implements Timer {
                     int nanoSeconds = (int) (sleepTime - (milliSeconds * 1000000));
                     Thread.sleep(milliSeconds, nanoSeconds);
                 } catch (InterruptedException e) {
-                    if (shutdown.get()) {
+                    if (shutdown()) {
                         return -1;
                     }
                 }