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Is there a generally accepted "favorite" or "best" design? I've heard how easy it is to suppress a .22 but I'm thinking that durability and cleanability may come into play in the long run.
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There is no best design. Weight, size, cost, effectiveness and durability are all factors and one has to compromise. The lightest weight silencer will not be come apart and will not last long during rapid fire. A can made from titanium will be expensive. Non-stainless will rust, especially if you use it with water to further suppress the noise. Threading requires thicker and heavier tubing walls than a sealed (welded, glued) can.
The 22lr is very dirty, it leaves lots of gun powder crud and lead behind as most of the ammo is not jacketed, it is either waxed or plated which is the same as bare lead by the time it leaves the barrel. You can clean a sealed can, but is is harder and less effective as cleaning is limited to solvents and rinsing. Some manufacturers will also take cans in for cleaning, but I am not sure if they will do it for a homemade form 1 can.
My fist 22lr can was made from 1 inch aluminum tubing with .070” (?) walls and 7/8-24 threaded end caps. It worked ok, but was a bit louder than a sealed AAC silencer. My second 22lr can was made from 4130 tubing which allowed me to use smaller 15/16-32 threads. The thinner walls meant more volume. I also used thinner baffles and spacers to maximize the volume.
The only bad thing about form 1 cans is that you have to make them right the first time. You cannot replace parts except for wipes. Repairs are limited to those that do not involve changing bore size or making the silencer longer. You can send it to a class 2 for parts replacement, but they cannot change the bore or make it longer either. Wipes are the only parts that you can replace without paying another $200 tax. Wipes are rubber disks the bullet punch through. They are very effective at reducing noise until they wear out in a few dozen rounds. Since they touch the bullet, accuracy is also degraded.
Ranb