New buckets, old lids

[3GoatHill]

I got about 20 of the smaller sized aluminum buckets. The holes were too small to fit the 5/16 hookless spiles, so I filed them down a little. Problem solved. But now the lids I have are the flat kind that fit into the 7/16 spiles, so those won't work. But I have some of the roof style lids that go on the older big galvanized buckets. But they are too big. So I tried bending them. Now they fit, but the opening gap is pretty big and I fear they may not work. Any suggestions?

[MISugarDaddy]

Have you considered drilling a hole in the flat lids and using wire ties to attach them to the pail on the side where the spile hooks. We did that with plastic pails last year and it worked great and still allowed us to dump them easily. We found too that if there was ice in the pails, we could hold pressure on the lid, drain out the sap, and then dump out the ice.
Gary

[3GoatHill]

That sounds like a pretty good idea. I'll give that a try and see how it works out. Thanks!