diff --git a/pool.hpp b/pool.hpp
index 4be5b764..b16689b3 100644
--- a/pool.hpp
+++ b/pool.hpp
@@ -77,10 +77,7 @@ namespace cruft {
             // allocate the memory and note the base address for deletion in destructor
             m_next = m_head = new node[m_capacity];
 
-            // build out a complete singly linked list from all the nodes.
-            for (size_t i = 0; i < m_capacity - 1; ++i)
-                m_next[i].next = m_next + i + 1;
-            m_next[m_capacity - 1].next = nullptr;
+            clear ();
         }
 
         ~pool ()
@@ -161,6 +158,18 @@ namespace cruft {
         bool full     (void) const { return size () == capacity (); }
 
 
+        void clear (void)
+        {
+            m_next = m_head;
+
+            // build out a complete singly linked list from all the nodes.
+            for (size_t i = 0; i < m_capacity - 1; ++i)
+                m_next[i].next = m_next + i + 1;
+
+            m_next[m_capacity - 1].next = nullptr;
+        }
+
+
         // Indexing
         size_t index (T const *ptr) const
         {