diff --git a/README.rdoc b/README.rdoc
index cba5dc17..907e1f90 100644
--- a/README.rdoc
+++ b/README.rdoc
@@ -156,6 +156,14 @@ The arrange method takes ActiveRecord find options. If you want your hashes to b
 
   TreeNode.find_by_name('Crunchy').subtree.arrange(:order => :name)
 
+= Sorting
+
+If you just want to sort an array of nodes as if you were traversing them in preorder, you can use the sort_by_ancestry class method:
+  
+  TreeNode.sort_by_ancestry(array_of_nodes)
+
+Note that since materialised path trees don't support ordering within a rank, the order of siblings depends on their order in the original array.
+
 = Migrating from plugin that uses parent_id column
 
 Most current tree plugins use a parent_id column (has_ancestry, awesome_nested_set, better_nested_set, acts_as_nested_set). With ancestry its easy to migrate from any of these plugins, to do so, use the build_ancestry_from_parent_ids! method on your ancestry model. These steps provide a more detailed explanation:
diff --git a/lib/ancestry/class_methods.rb b/lib/ancestry/class_methods.rb
index 0887d341..c7184ef1 100644
--- a/lib/ancestry/class_methods.rb
+++ b/lib/ancestry/class_methods.rb
@@ -36,14 +36,36 @@ def arrange options = {}
           self.base_class.ordered_by_ancestry_and options.delete(:order)
         end
       # Get all nodes ordered by ancestry and start sorting them into an empty hash
-      scope.all(options).inject(ActiveSupport::OrderedHash.new) do |arranged_nodes, node|
+      arrange_nodes scope.all(options)
+    end
+    
+    # Arrange array of nodes into a nested hash of the form 
+    # {node => children}, where children = {} if the node has no children
+    def arrange_nodes(nodes)
+      # Get all nodes ordered by ancestry and start sorting them into an empty hash
+      nodes.inject(ActiveSupport::OrderedHash.new) do |arranged_nodes, node|
         # Find the insertion point for that node by going through its ancestors
         node.ancestor_ids.inject(arranged_nodes) do |insertion_point, ancestor_id|
           insertion_point.each do |parent, children|
             # Change the insertion point to children if node is a descendant of this parent
             insertion_point = children if ancestor_id == parent.id
-          end; insertion_point
-        end[node] = ActiveSupport::OrderedHash.new; arranged_nodes
+          end
+          insertion_point
+        end[node] = ActiveSupport::OrderedHash.new
+        arranged_nodes
+      end
+    end
+    
+    # Pseudo-preordered array of nodes.  Children will always follow parents, 
+    # but the ordering of nodes within a rank depends on their order in the 
+    # array that gets passed in
+    def sort_by_ancestry(nodes)
+      arranged = nodes.is_a?(Hash) ? nodes : arrange_nodes(nodes.sort_by{|n| n.ancestry || '0'})
+      arranged.inject([]) do |sorted_nodes, pair|
+        node, children = pair
+        sorted_nodes << node
+        sorted_nodes += sort_by_ancestry(children) unless children.blank?
+        sorted_nodes
       end
     end
 
@@ -52,7 +74,7 @@ def check_ancestry_integrity! options = {}
       parents = {}
       exceptions = [] if options[:report] == :list
       # For each node ...
-      self.base_class.all.each do |node|
+      self.base_class.find_each do |node|
         begin
           # ... check validity of ancestry column
           if !node.valid? and !node.errors[node.class.ancestry_column].blank?
@@ -86,7 +108,7 @@ def check_ancestry_integrity! options = {}
     def restore_ancestry_integrity!
       parents = {}
       # For each node ...
-      self.base_class.all.each do |node|
+      self.base_class.find_each do |node|
         # ... set its ancestry to nil if invalid
         if node.errors[node.class.ancestry_column].blank?
           node.without_ancestry_callbacks do
@@ -104,7 +126,7 @@ def restore_ancestry_integrity!
         parents[node.id] = nil if parent == node.id 
       end
       # For each node ...
-      self.base_class.all.each do |node|
+      self.base_class.find_each do |node|
         # ... rebuild ancestry from parents array
         ancestry, parent = nil, parents[node.id]
         until parent.nil?
@@ -118,7 +140,7 @@ def restore_ancestry_integrity!
     
     # Build ancestry from parent id's for migration purposes
     def build_ancestry_from_parent_ids! parent_id = nil, ancestry = nil
-      self.base_class.all(:conditions => {:parent_id => parent_id}).each do |node|
+      self.base_class.find_each(:conditions => {:parent_id => parent_id}) do |node|
         node.without_ancestry_callbacks do
           node.update_attribute ancestry_column, ancestry
         end
@@ -129,9 +151,9 @@ def build_ancestry_from_parent_ids! parent_id = nil, ancestry = nil
     # Rebuild depth cache if it got corrupted or if depth caching was just turned on
     def rebuild_depth_cache!
       raise Ancestry::AncestryException.new("Cannot rebuild depth cache for model without depth caching.") unless respond_to? :depth_cache_column
-      self.base_class.all.each do |node|
+      self.base_class.find_each do |node|
         node.update_attribute depth_cache_column, node.depth
       end
     end
   end
-end
\ No newline at end of file
+end
diff --git a/test/has_ancestry_test.rb b/test/has_ancestry_test.rb
index 7fe6687e..dca1d90c 100644
--- a/test/has_ancestry_test.rb
+++ b/test/has_ancestry_test.rb
@@ -688,4 +688,17 @@ def test_arrange_order_option
       end
     end
   end
+  
+  def test_sort_by_ancestry
+    AncestryTestDatabase.with_model do |model|
+      n1 = model.create!
+      n2 = model.create!(:parent => n1)
+      n3 = model.create!(:parent => n2)
+      n4 = model.create!(:parent => n2)
+      n5 = model.create!(:parent => n1)
+      
+      arranged = model.sort_by_ancestry(model.all.sort_by(&:id).reverse)
+      assert_equal [n1, n2, n4, n3, n5].map(&:id), arranged.map(&:id)
+    end
+  end
 end