I just moved into a new house and am beginning to prepare some of my garden beds.
The previous owners left a very large pile of old firewood in my back yard which is simply too rotten to burn, but hasn't yet broken down completely. Right now I have a compost bin and a compost pile, neither of which have enough space to accomodate all of the rotten wood, but I want to make good use of it.

Since I don't have a mulcher (but I do have an axe), what do people suggest doing with such a large quantity of old wood?

One consideration: I'm thinking about building a raised bed, and will need a significant amount of material to build the soil. Would it be a good idea to build the bottom layer of the bed out of the rotten wood, then layer compost above it? That would use much of the wood, leaving just enough to be broken & placed in my compost pile. What do you think?