diff --git a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/KeyValue.java b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/KeyValue.java
index da5677d6ce7..8f8554cf2aa 100644
--- a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/KeyValue.java
+++ b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/KeyValue.java
@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Bytes;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.ClassSize;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.IOUtils;
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.RawComparator;
-
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
 
 /**
@@ -2642,13 +2641,6 @@ public class KeyValue implements ExtendedCell {
       this.rowLen = Bytes.toShort(this.bytes, this.offset);
     }
 
-    public void clear() {
-      rowLen = -1;
-      bytes = null;
-      offset = 0;
-      length = 0;
-    }
-
     @Override
     public int getKeyOffset() {
       return this.offset;
diff --git a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/encoding/BufferedDataBlockEncoder.java b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/encoding/BufferedDataBlockEncoder.java
index 514e829149f..4d3a26c9d15 100644
--- a/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/encoding/BufferedDataBlockEncoder.java
+++ b/hbase-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/io/encoding/BufferedDataBlockEncoder.java
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ abstract class BufferedDataBlockEncoder extends AbstractDataBlockEncoder {
     protected void invalidate() {
       valueOffset = -1;
       tagsCompressedLength = 0;
-      currentKey.clear();
+      currentKey = new KeyValue.KeyOnlyKeyValue();
       uncompressTags = true;
       currentBuffer = null;
     }