That was an issue of Hulk, actually. It took place in the Savage Land so the confusion is understandable. Wolverine tried to slash the Hulk's neck, and the Hulk instinctively reacted as if they were Adamantium claws.

Which is a good example to illustrate my point - bone claws should just shatter against the Hulk's near-impenetrable hide, no?

I prefer this version instead :)

And now that I went and found this, I'm only just discovering that this old OHOTMU#15 entry did NOT indicate the use of super-strong springs for the "SNIKT" effect. In my mind I have been assuming that since I was a kid. They were trying to say that a group of muscles were responsible for pushing them out? Why would Wolverine have been born with muscles capable of doing that? (Again this was before the bone claw reveal, of course)

Ahhh, yes, that's correct. The Kubert art confused me.

This issue, right?

A quick note to mention that it was Larry Hama who introduced the bone claws into the comics. Claremont might have wanted to do it, but it was Hama that pulled the trigger, so to speak.

Speechless. For a number of years, I've not been able to work out why 'my' traditional fun, hokey, dramatic, overblown, majestic and overall downright original Marvel Universe disappeared. This explains it EXACTLY. RIGHT.

So simple when I now see it written down like that. Damn.

I always thought of Wolverine's claws as kind of a unique weapon that were sharp from any side. There is an X-Men (maybe 126?) where he actually cuts three, horizontal "cut-out" slots in a table when he reacts to something Scott tells him. As a kid I thought, "these aren't just cat claws, there is something extra special about them." Maybe it was the adamantium?