diff --git a/dhfs-parent/objects/src/main/java/com/usatiuk/dhfs/objects/persistence/LmdbObjectPersistentStore.java b/dhfs-parent/objects/src/main/java/com/usatiuk/dhfs/objects/persistence/LmdbObjectPersistentStore.java
index 080b51ab..39f2e289 100644
--- a/dhfs-parent/objects/src/main/java/com/usatiuk/dhfs/objects/persistence/LmdbObjectPersistentStore.java
+++ b/dhfs-parent/objects/src/main/java/com/usatiuk/dhfs/objects/persistence/LmdbObjectPersistentStore.java
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import com.usatiuk.dhfs.objects.JObjectKey;
 import com.usatiuk.dhfs.objects.KeyPredicateKvIterator;
 import com.usatiuk.dhfs.objects.ReversibleKvIterator;
 import com.usatiuk.dhfs.supportlib.UninitializedByteBuffer;
+import com.usatiuk.dhfs.utils.RefcountedCloseable;
 import io.quarkus.arc.properties.IfBuildProperty;
 import io.quarkus.logging.Log;
 import io.quarkus.runtime.ShutdownEvent;
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@ import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.nio.file.Path;
 import java.util.*;
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference;
 import java.util.concurrent.locks.ReentrantReadWriteLock;
 import java.util.function.Consumer;
 
@@ -38,6 +40,7 @@ public class LmdbObjectPersistentStore implements ObjectPersistentStore {
     private Env<ByteBuffer> _env;
     private Dbi<ByteBuffer> _db;
     private boolean _ready = false;
+    private final AtomicReference<RefcountedCloseable<Txn<ByteBuffer>>> _curReadTxn = new AtomicReference<>();
 
     private long _lastTxId = 0;
 
@@ -114,8 +117,8 @@ public class LmdbObjectPersistentStore implements ObjectPersistentStore {
     }
 
     private class LmdbKvIterator extends ReversibleKvIterator<JObjectKey, ByteString> {
-        private final Txn<ByteBuffer> _txn = _env.txnRead();
-        private final Cursor<ByteBuffer> _cursor = _db.openCursor(_txn);
+        private final RefcountedCloseable<Txn<ByteBuffer>> _txn;
+        private final Cursor<ByteBuffer> _cursor;
         private boolean _hasNext = false;
 
         private static final Cleaner CLEANER = Cleaner.create();
@@ -124,6 +127,23 @@ public class LmdbObjectPersistentStore implements ObjectPersistentStore {
 
         LmdbKvIterator(IteratorStart start, JObjectKey key) {
             _goingForward = true;
+
+            _lock.readLock().lock();
+            try {
+                var got = _curReadTxn.get();
+                var refInc = Optional.ofNullable(got).map(RefcountedCloseable::ref).orElse(null);
+                if (refInc != null) {
+                    _txn = got;
+                } else {
+                    var newTxn = new RefcountedCloseable<>(_env.txnRead());
+                    _curReadTxn.compareAndSet(got, newTxn);
+                    _txn = newTxn;
+                }
+            } finally {
+                _lock.readLock().unlock();
+            }
+            _cursor = _db.openCursor(_txn.get());
+
             var closedRef = _closed;
             var bt = _allocationStacktrace;
             CLEANER.register(this, () -> {
@@ -200,7 +220,7 @@ public class LmdbObjectPersistentStore implements ObjectPersistentStore {
             }
             _closed.setValue(true);
             _cursor.close();
-            _txn.close();
+            _txn.unref();
         }
 
         @Override
@@ -298,6 +318,8 @@ public class LmdbObjectPersistentStore implements ObjectPersistentStore {
                     bbData.flip();
                     _db.put(txn, bb, bbData);
 
+                    _curReadTxn.set(null);
+
                     txn.commit();
                 } finally {
                     _lock.writeLock().unlock();
diff --git a/dhfs-parent/utils/src/main/java/com/usatiuk/dhfs/utils/RefcountedCloseable.java b/dhfs-parent/utils/src/main/java/com/usatiuk/dhfs/utils/RefcountedCloseable.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..8c6d46d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dhfs-parent/utils/src/main/java/com/usatiuk/dhfs/utils/RefcountedCloseable.java
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+package com.usatiuk.dhfs.utils;
+
+import io.quarkus.logging.Log;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.mutable.MutableObject;
+
+import java.lang.ref.Cleaner;
+
+public class RefcountedCloseable<T extends AutoCloseable> {
+    private final T _closeable;
+    private int _refCount = 1;
+    private final MutableObject<Boolean> _closed = new MutableObject<>(false);
+    private static final Cleaner CLEANER = Cleaner.create();
+
+    public RefcountedCloseable(T closeable) {
+        _closeable = closeable;
+        var closedRef = _closed;
+        CLEANER.register(this, () -> {
+            if (!closedRef.getValue()) {
+                Log.error("RefcountedCloseable was not closed before GC");
+                System.exit(-1);
+            }
+        });
+    }
+
+    public RefcountedCloseable<T> ref() {
+        synchronized (this) {
+            if (_closed.getValue()) {
+                return null;
+            }
+            _refCount++;
+            return this;
+        }
+    }
+
+    public void unref() {
+        synchronized (this) {
+            _refCount--;
+            if (_refCount == 0) {
+                try {
+                    assert !_closed.getValue();
+                    _closed.setValue(true);
+                    _closeable.close();
+                } catch (Exception e) {
+                    throw new RuntimeException(e);
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    public T get() {
+        return _closeable;
+    }
+}