diff --git a/bookkeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/bookkeeper/bookie/BookieImpl.java b/bookkeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/bookkeeper/bookie/BookieImpl.java
index 654ace45476..a660a13ce84 100644
--- a/bookkeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/bookkeeper/bookie/BookieImpl.java
+++ b/bookkeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/bookkeeper/bookie/BookieImpl.java
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@
 /**
  * Implements a bookie.
  */
-public class BookieImpl extends BookieCriticalThread implements Bookie {
+public class BookieImpl implements Bookie {
 
     private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(Bookie.class);
 
@@ -119,6 +119,8 @@ public class BookieImpl extends BookieCriticalThread implements Bookie {
 
     protected StateManager stateManager;
 
+    private BookieCriticalThread bookieThread;
+
     // Expose Stats
     final StatsLogger statsLogger;
     private final BookieStats bookieStats;
@@ -390,7 +392,6 @@ public BookieImpl(ServerConfiguration conf,
                       ByteBufAllocator allocator,
                       Supplier<BookieServiceInfo> bookieServiceInfoProvider)
             throws IOException, InterruptedException, BookieException {
-        super("Bookie-" + conf.getBookiePort());
         this.bookieServiceInfoProvider = bookieServiceInfoProvider;
         this.statsLogger = statsLogger;
         this.conf = conf;
@@ -656,7 +657,9 @@ private void replay(Journal journal, JournalScanner scanner) throws IOException
 
     @Override
     public synchronized void start() {
-        setDaemon(true);
+        bookieThread = new BookieCriticalThread(() -> run(), "Bookie-" + conf.getBookiePort());
+        bookieThread.setDaemon(true);
+
         ThreadRegistry.register("BookieThread", 0);
         if (LOG.isDebugEnabled()) {
             LOG.debug("I'm starting a bookie with journal directories {}",
@@ -717,7 +720,7 @@ public synchronized void start() {
         syncThread.start();
 
         // start bookie thread
-        super.start();
+        bookieThread.start();
 
         // After successful bookie startup, register listener for disk
         // error/full notifications.
@@ -741,6 +744,20 @@ public synchronized void start() {
         }
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public void join() throws InterruptedException {
+        if (bookieThread != null) {
+            bookieThread.join();
+        }
+    }
+
+    public boolean isAlive() {
+        if (bookieThread == null) {
+            return false;
+        }
+        return bookieThread.isAlive();
+    }
+
     /*
      * Get the DiskFailure listener for the bookie
      */
@@ -824,7 +841,6 @@ public boolean isRunning() {
         return stateManager.isRunning();
     }
 
-    @Override
     public void run() {
         // start journals
         for (Journal journal: journals) {
diff --git a/bookkeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/bookkeeper/bookie/Journal.java b/bookkeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/bookkeeper/bookie/Journal.java
index 3b730cb476e..5a2030032ee 100644
--- a/bookkeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/bookkeeper/bookie/Journal.java
+++ b/bookkeeper-server/src/main/java/org/apache/bookkeeper/bookie/Journal.java
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
+import java.util.function.Consumer;
 import org.apache.bookkeeper.bookie.LedgerDirsManager.NoWritableLedgerDirException;
 import org.apache.bookkeeper.bookie.stats.JournalStats;
 import org.apache.bookkeeper.common.collections.BatchedArrayBlockingQueue;
@@ -66,13 +67,15 @@
 /**
  * Provide journal related management.
  */
-public class Journal extends BookieCriticalThread implements CheckpointSource {
+public class Journal implements CheckpointSource {
 
     private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(Journal.class);
 
     private static final RecyclableArrayList.Recycler<QueueEntry> entryListRecycler =
         new RecyclableArrayList.Recycler<QueueEntry>();
 
+    private BookieCriticalThread thread;
+
     /**
      * Filter to pickup journals.
      */
@@ -461,13 +464,13 @@ private class ForceWriteThread extends BookieCriticalThread {
         volatile boolean running = true;
         // This holds the queue entries that should be notified after a
         // successful force write
-        Thread threadToNotifyOnEx;
+        Consumer<Void> threadToNotifyOnEx;
 
         // should we group force writes
         private final boolean enableGroupForceWrites;
         private final Counter forceWriteThreadTime;
 
-        public ForceWriteThread(Thread threadToNotifyOnEx,
+        public ForceWriteThread(Consumer<Void> threadToNotifyOnEx,
                                 boolean enableGroupForceWrites,
                                 StatsLogger statsLogger) {
             super("ForceWriteThread");
@@ -531,7 +534,7 @@ public void run() {
             // Regardless of what caused us to exit, we should notify the
             // the parent thread as it should either exit or be in the process
             // of exiting else we will have write requests hang
-            threadToNotifyOnEx.interrupt();
+            threadToNotifyOnEx.accept(null);
         }
 
         private void syncJournal(ForceWriteRequest lastRequest) throws IOException {
@@ -652,8 +655,6 @@ public Journal(int journalIndex, File journalDirectory, ServerConfiguration conf
 
     public Journal(int journalIndex, File journalDirectory, ServerConfiguration conf,
             LedgerDirsManager ledgerDirsManager, StatsLogger statsLogger, ByteBufAllocator allocator) {
-        super(journalThreadName + "-" + conf.getBookiePort());
-        this.setPriority(Thread.MAX_PRIORITY);
         this.allocator = allocator;
 
         StatsLogger journalStatsLogger = statsLogger.scopeLabel("journalIndex", String.valueOf(journalIndex));
@@ -678,7 +679,7 @@ public Journal(int journalIndex, File journalDirectory, ServerConfiguration conf
         this.journalWriteBufferSize = conf.getJournalWriteBufferSizeKB() * KB;
         this.syncData = conf.getJournalSyncData();
         this.maxBackupJournals = conf.getMaxBackupJournals();
-        this.forceWriteThread = new ForceWriteThread(this, conf.getJournalAdaptiveGroupWrites(),
+        this.forceWriteThread = new ForceWriteThread((__) -> this.interrupt(), conf.getJournalAdaptiveGroupWrites(),
                 journalStatsLogger);
         this.maxGroupWaitInNanos = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.toNanos(conf.getJournalMaxGroupWaitMSec());
         this.bufferedWritesThreshold = conf.getJournalBufferedWritesThreshold();
@@ -956,7 +957,6 @@ journalFormatVersionToWrite, getBufferedChannelBuilder(),
      * </p>
      * @see org.apache.bookkeeper.bookie.SyncThread
      */
-    @Override
     public void run() {
         LOG.info("Starting journal on {}", journalDirectory);
         ThreadRegistry.register(journalThreadName, 0);
@@ -1256,7 +1256,7 @@ public synchronized void shutdown() {
 
             running = false;
             this.interrupt();
-            this.join();
+            this.joinThread();
             LOG.info("Finished Shutting down Journal thread");
         } catch (IOException | InterruptedException ie) {
             Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
@@ -1284,7 +1284,21 @@ private static int fullRead(JournalChannel fc, ByteBuffer bb) throws IOException
      */
     @VisibleForTesting
     public void joinThread() throws InterruptedException {
-        join();
+        if (thread != null) {
+            thread.join();
+        }
+    }
+
+    public void interrupt() {
+        if (thread != null) {
+            thread.interrupt();
+        }
+    }
+
+    public synchronized void start() {
+        thread = new BookieCriticalThread(() -> run(), journalThreadName + "-" + conf.getBookiePort());
+        thread.setPriority(Thread.MAX_PRIORITY);
+        thread.start();
     }
 
     long getMemoryUsage() {