diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 7da35bc..1fbca14 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ class MerkleTree {
     this.createHashes(this.leaves)
   }
 
+  // TODO: documentation
   createHashes(nodes) {
     while (nodes.length > 1) {
 
@@ -255,20 +256,16 @@ class MerkleTree {
     return Buffer.compare(hash, root) === 0
   }
 
-  static bufferify(x) {
-    return bufferify(x)
-  }
-
-  static print(tree, opts) {
-    opts = opts || {}
-    const log = opts instanceof Object && opts.log !== false
-    const layers = tree.getLayers().map(x => x.map(x => x.toString('hex')))
+  // TODO: documentation
+  getLayersAsObject() {
+    const layers = this.getLayers().map(x => x.map(x => x.toString('hex')))
     const objs = []
     for (let i = 0; i < layers.length; i++) {
       const arr = []
       for (let j = 0; j < layers[i].length; j++) {
-        const obj = { [layers[i][j]]: {} }
+        const obj = { [layers[i][j]]: null }
         if (objs.length) {
+          obj[layers[i][j]] = {}
           const a = objs.shift()
           const akey = Object.keys(a)[0]
           obj[layers[i][j]][akey] = a[akey]
@@ -285,10 +282,33 @@ class MerkleTree {
       objs.push(...arr)
     }
 
-    const str = treeify.asTree(objs[0], true)
-    if (log) console.log(str)
+    return objs[0]
+  }
 
-    return str
+  // TODO: documentation
+  print() {
+    MerkleTree.print(this)
+  }
+
+  // TODO: documentation
+  toTreeString() {
+    const obj = this.getLayersAsObject()
+    return treeify.asTree(obj, true)
+  }
+
+  // TODO: documentation
+  toString() {
+    return this.toTreeString()
+  }
+
+  // TODO: documentation
+  static bufferify(x) {
+    return bufferify(x)
+  }
+
+  // TODO: documentation
+  static print(tree) {
+    console.log(tree.toString())
   }
 }
 
@@ -319,7 +339,7 @@ function bufferifyFn (f) {
   }
 }
 
-function isHexStr(v, size) {
+function isHexStr(v) {
   return (typeof v === 'string' && /^(0x)?[0-9A-Fa-f]*$/.test(v))
 }
 
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 6adc4f8..7102a49 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "merkletreejs",
-  "version": "0.0.19",
+  "version": "0.0.20",
   "lockfileVersion": 1,
   "requires": true,
   "dependencies": {
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 47788b8..d69d5ee 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "merkletreejs",
-  "version": "0.0.19",
+  "version": "0.0.20",
   "description": "Construct Merkle Trees and verify proofs",
   "main": "index.js",
   "types": "index.d.ts",
diff --git a/test/index.js b/test/index.js
index 5e79525..576656a 100644
--- a/test/index.js
+++ b/test/index.js
@@ -310,14 +310,32 @@ test('crypto-js bufferify', t => {
   t.deepEqual(leaves.map(MerkleTree.bufferify), leaves.map(bufferifyCryptoJS))
 })
 
+test('getLayersAsObject', t => {
+  t.plan(1)
+
+  const leaves = ['a', 'b', 'c'].map(x => sha3(x))
+  const tree = new MerkleTree(leaves, sha256)
+  const obj = tree.getLayersAsObject()
+  t.deepEqual(obj, {
+    '311d2e46f49b15fff8b746b74ad57f2cc9e0d9939fda94387141a2d3fdf187ae': {
+      '0b42b6393c1f53060fe3ddbfcd7aadcca894465a5a438f69c87d790b2299b9b2': {
+        '0b42b6393c1f53060fe3ddbfcd7aadcca894465a5a438f69c87d790b2299b9b2': null
+      },
+      '176f0f307632fdd5831875eb709e2f68d770b102262998b214ddeb3f04164ae1': {
+        '3ac225168df54212a25c1c01fd35bebfea408fdac2e31ddd6f80a4bbf9a5f1cb': null,
+        'b5553de315e0edf504d9150af82dafa5c4667fa618ed0a6f19c69b41166c5510': null
+      }
+    }
+  })
+})
+
 test('print', t => {
   t.plan(1)
 
   const leaves = ['a', 'b', 'c'].map(x => sha3(x))
   const tree = new MerkleTree(leaves, sha256)
-  const str = MerkleTree.print(tree, {log: false})
 
-  t.equal(str,
+  t.equal(tree.toString(),
 `└─ 311d2e46f49b15fff8b746b74ad57f2cc9e0d9939fda94387141a2d3fdf187ae
    ├─ 176f0f307632fdd5831875eb709e2f68d770b102262998b214ddeb3f04164ae1
    │  ├─ 3ac225168df54212a25c1c01fd35bebfea408fdac2e31ddd6f80a4bbf9a5f1cb