Should I strip it and try again?

[Spurgeon Hendrick]

Here is the Lodge tea kettle I recently acquired. The lid turned out a different color! Doh!

I used the e-tank on the body of the tea kettle (the lid had been removed). For the lid, I put it is the lye bucket while the kettle was in the e-tank. Then I submerged the body and the lid in Evaporust for a couple of days.

Is it possible the difference in color has to do with the lid in lye (but never the e-tank) and the body was in the e-tank (but never the lye)?

The plan now is to put the lid back in the lye for a little while, to remove the seasoning, and then put it in the e-tank overnight.

Any suggestions?

[Spurgeon Hendrick]

I just thought of another difference I. The process. To get the body of the kettle in the oven, I had to lower the top rack to the middle. Since I was also seasoning a French bread pan, the lid had to go on the bottom rack. So, the lid was only a couple of inches from the bottom element, while the body was in the middle of the oven. But that wouldn’t make a difference, would it?

[Russell Ware]

Proximity to the element might be part of the problem. I think you compounded the matter here by not processing the two pieces in the same steps.
But you could still try re-seasoning on the middle oven shelf.