diff --git a/include/crucible/crc64.h b/include/crucible/crc64.h
index 0bd8d11..d4d4612 100644
--- a/include/crucible/crc64.h
+++ b/include/crucible/crc64.h
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 #include <cstdint>
 #include <cstdlib>
+#include <cstring>
 
 namespace crucible {
 	namespace Digest {
diff --git a/lib/crc64.cc b/lib/crc64.cc
index 90dc87d..90ef5d7 100644
--- a/lib/crc64.cc
+++ b/lib/crc64.cc
@@ -1,3 +1,31 @@
+/* crc64.c -- compute CRC-64
+ * Copyright (C) 2013 Mark Adler
+ * Version 1.4  16 Dec 2013  Mark Adler
+ */
+
+/*
+ This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied
+ warranty.  In no event will the author be held liable for any damages
+ arising from the use of this software.
+
+ Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,
+ including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it
+ freely, subject to the following restrictions:
+
+ 1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not
+ claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software
+ in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be
+ appreciated but is not required.
+ 2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be
+ misrepresented as being the original software.
+ 3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.
+
+ Mark Adler
+ madler@alumni.caltech.edu
+ */
+
+/* Substantially modified by Paul Jones for usage in bees */
+
 #include "crucible/crc64.h"
 
 #define POLY64REV 0xd800000000000000ULL
@@ -5,13 +33,16 @@
 namespace crucible {
 
 	static bool init = false;
-	static uint64_t CRCTable[256];
+	static uint64_t CRCTable[8][256];
 
 	static void init_crc64_table()
 	{
 		if (!init) {
-			for (int i = 0; i <= 255; i++) {
-				uint64_t part = i;
+			uint64_t crc;
+
+			// Generate CRCs for all single byte sequences
+			for (int n = 0; n < 256; n++) {
+				uint64_t part = n;
 				for (int j = 0; j < 8; j++) {
 					if (part & 1) {
 						part = (part >> 1) ^ POLY64REV;
@@ -19,37 +50,60 @@ namespace crucible {
 						part >>= 1;
 					}
 				}
-				CRCTable[i] = part;
+				CRCTable[0][n] = part;
+			}
+
+			// Generate nested CRC table for slice-by-8 lookup
+			for (int n = 0; n < 256; n++) {
+				crc = CRCTable[0][n];
+				for (int k = 1; k < 8; k++) {
+					crc = CRCTable[0][crc & 0xff] ^ (crc >> 8);
+					CRCTable[k][n] = crc;
+				}
 			}
 			init = true;
 		}
 	}
 
+	// This function is only used for tests
 	uint64_t
 	Digest::CRC::crc64(const char *s)
 	{
-		init_crc64_table();
-
-		uint64_t crc = 0;
-		for (; *s; s++) {
-			uint64_t temp1 = crc >> 8;
-			uint64_t temp2 = CRCTable[(crc ^ static_cast<uint64_t>(*s)) & 0xff];
-			crc = temp1 ^ temp2;
-		}
-
-		return crc;
+		return crc64(static_cast<const void *>(s), strlen(s));
 	}
 
 	uint64_t
 	Digest::CRC::crc64(const void *p, size_t len)
 	{
 		init_crc64_table();
-
+		const unsigned char *next = static_cast<const unsigned char *>(p);
 		uint64_t crc = 0;
-		for (const unsigned char *s = static_cast<const unsigned char *>(p); len; --len) {
-			uint64_t temp1 = crc >> 8;
-			uint64_t temp2 = CRCTable[(crc ^ *s++) & 0xff];
-			crc = temp1 ^ temp2;
+
+		// Process individual bytes until we reach an 8-byte aligned pointer
+		while (len && (reinterpret_cast<uintptr_t>(next) & 7) != 0) {
+			crc = CRCTable[0][(crc ^ *next++) & 0xff] ^ (crc >> 8);
+			len--;
+		}
+
+		// Fast middle processing, 8 bytes (aligned!) per loop
+		while (len >= 8) {
+			crc ^= *(reinterpret_cast< const uint64_t *>(next));
+			crc = CRCTable[7][crc & 0xff] ^
+				  CRCTable[6][(crc >> 8) & 0xff] ^
+				  CRCTable[5][(crc >> 16) & 0xff] ^
+				  CRCTable[4][(crc >> 24) & 0xff] ^
+				  CRCTable[3][(crc >> 32) & 0xff] ^
+				  CRCTable[2][(crc >> 40) & 0xff] ^
+				  CRCTable[1][(crc >> 48) & 0xff] ^
+				  CRCTable[0][crc >> 56];
+			next += 8;
+			len -= 8;
+		}
+
+		// Process remaining bytes (can't be larger than 8)
+		while (len) {
+			crc = CRCTable[0][(crc ^ *next++) & 0xff] ^ (crc >> 8);
+			len--;
 		}
 
 		return crc;