Would using a general knife sharpener work on a cheap katana?

Many of the imitation wall hangers are made out of a cheap "pot" metal. Then they are plated with a thin layer of copper so that they can then finish it with chrome. A student surprised me when he brought one of these in that he had tried to sharpen. You could see the chrome, copper, and the cheap soft pot metal core. The sword was totally useless, even as a wall hanger. You may or may not have something like that one. I guess you can try, but you may not like the results. A cheap sword is likely to break easily if you try cutting with it. I do not recommend that you sharpen it or try cutting with it.