Bishop73

Chosen answer: While it's not a definitive answer, the practical claws were still dangerous and several stunt people, and Hugh Jackman himself, have been injured during filming of the X-Men films. I don't know if they simply wanted to try to be safer or if there was a request made. Plus, the other films still used CGI claws for certain scenes, so perhaps they thought they could pull it off. It should be noted that Hugh Jackman went back to practical claws during filming of The Wolverine.

Bishop73

Answer: This is hard to definitively say. In the comics, Victor is never the half-brother of Logan. This movie is based on a 6-part comic book series called "Origin" (also known as Origin: The True Story of Wolverine). In it, Logan/Wolverine is revealed to be James Howlett. Dog Logan (yes, Dog as in the animal) is Thomas Logan's son (Thomas Logan being a groundskeeper for the Howletts). It is then revealed Thomas Logan is James Howlett's father as well. In the comics, Dog was born 1882. Wolverine's actual birth year is never definitive, but said to be between 1882-1885. However, Dog Logan is not Victor Creed/Sabertooth in the comics (as of yet). So the film turned Dog into Victor. So in this film, Victor is probably 1 or 2 years older than Logan. In the film, the actor who portrays young Victor is only a year older than the actor who portrays young Logan.

Bishop73