Did Wolverine’s claws start out as stabbing weapons and slicing blades? (In reference to some of the past comics.)

They started as literally just big metal claws. Like a bear or wolverine’s claws.

A wolverine’s claws are infamous for slicing, cutting, digging, climbing and even disemboweling MUCH bigger animals. The claws were NOT knives, but were originally designed to function as actual claws, adding to his animal persona. The fact a small wolverine will tackle and kill a moose is reflected in pitting Wolverine against much bigger stronger foes, and having him come out a winner. To those who doubt this, look at Wolverine’s arch nemesis, Sabertooth. He appeared first as a villain of Iron Fist.

Sabertooth has forever used his claws like a cat’s claws that are capable of cutting metal. Just like Wolverine, his claws cut, rend, tear, slice, stab, gouge, dig, and climb.
Wolverine and Sabertooth both used claws, which function like…well, claws: cut, dig, slice, chop, stab, gouge, you name it.

Later on, they were made to literal straight razors.

This was on purpose. Not just that a razor is beyond sharp in most viewers minds, but it has cultural connotations. For years, the straight razor (aka Barber blade, cutter, act-right, buck 50, 1.50, little friend, etc.) was a infamous weapon known throughout slums.
Wolverine back then was not what he is now. Wolverine was reflective of a Vietnam vet with severe PTSD, alcoholism, depression, suicidal tendencies, and a long line of bitter and broken hearted women behind him. He was Marvel’s unapologetic commentary on what veterans go through. All his friends are dead, his first wife a Native girl about 16–18, was raped and murdered, and no justice was found for that. His second wife is dead, his baby died in gang violence. The only person he knows is a psychopath driven insane by abusive parents. Wolverine is a absolute mess of a person who lives on beer, cigars, and losing himself in women or violence. The barber blade was a famous weapon in many a Canadian bar brawl among thugs and criminals, and his razor-claws went along perfect with him always being in bar brawls, or drunk, or flying into a rage.

In the 90’s, they became more the equivalent of fencing swords, sabers especially.

They could stab, slice, cut, anything really.

Later in the 90’s, Marvel shocked the fans by writing into canon that his claws were no longer implants, but always there. They made his claws look like blades carved from bone.
Due to the popularity of Marrow at the time, his claws were modeled after her bone spikes.

Marrow used to be INCREDIBLY popular, and was the closest thing to a female Wolverine out. She was brawling everyone from the X-Men to Spider-Man to the Avengers. She was written with far more intense depth, mature content and adult issues than X-23 or many modern Marvel characters. Marrow was one of comics’ first “ugly girls”. She was everything the girl who felt ugly, anorexic, alone, or rejected wanted to see, and she was a very strong and very adult-oriented character.

His claws took on his original natural look later.

But the butcher knife look was used for the movies.

His claws originally were just that, big claws. He could stab, claw, dig, and climb with them. He was using them like a wolverine does. But as he got more popular, and he was put in more controversial storylines, they were given a more razor shape, and often used more like a lethal assassin uses his knife. Wolverine was far more a black ops professional than a berserker.
After the movies, his claws take more of a slicing/knife purpose compared to the older way where they were more literally claws for anything he wanted to do, including slicing, digging, clawing, climbing, etc. His claws were always meant as multipurpose weapons, not just slicing.

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